


Once in a blue moon

by Marce



Series: Consequences [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Bromance, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Rescue Missions, spy/intelligence story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:10:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16241342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marce/pseuds/Marce
Summary: Steve is a lucky man: He has had his blue moon more than once. The lives he saved, the battles he fought and the people he love are his legacy; and that legacy is bigger than he had dared to imagine. This is a sequel to my story "The Big C". It's a story of action, with a dose of hurt / comfort, which makes Steve appreciate, more than ever, the wonderful people he has in his life.





	1. Prologue: I am a trouble magnet?

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new story. As some of you asked, it's a sequel to my previous story "THE BIG C". Steve has recovered from cancer and he's back as the leader of Five-0. Danny's father is gone, and his family mourn his death. Currently, both friends are in a process of reinvention. Reinventing their lives and their relationships with the most important people in their lives.
> 
> Like most of my work, it's a story of action, intertwined with life extreme situations, that force our boys to understand their emotions and learn to deal with them.
> 
> Thanks to my incredible beta, Hugo, for his advice and ideas. Although we have reviewed several times, there are probably some spelling or grammatical errors. Please excuse me if you find any.
> 
> This story is complete, so I'll post the new chapters every day. Thank you very much for reading and please tell me what do you think.
> 
> Disclaimer: All the characters and situations inherent in the Hawaii five-0 TV show, are owned by its creators and CBS. They are taken back for entertainment purposes only. No money or goods have been exchanged in the publishing of this story.

**Prologue: I am a trouble magnet?**

It's a magnificent night: The sky is colored in deep purple. The absence of the moon and an icy wind that penetrates to the bones, highlight the flickering effect of hundreds of stars. The black silhouette of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk stops in the air, about 10 yards from the roof of the south building; two dark figures descend sliding down the ropes until they touch the roof, begin to run a second later and hide behind the west wall, while the furtive chopper moves away at great speed. Quickly and silently, both come near to the metal door, to check the electronic safety device. One of them, lifts the left sleeve of the black sweatshirt to read a series of numbers written on the forearm skin and presses the buttons on the keyboard; a second later, the door opens with a weak click, to close again behind them.

On the east side, the edge of the cliff is drawn under the light of two powerful reflectors which revolve periodically sweeping the entire perimeter. Fifty yards below, among the waves that mercilessly hit the sharp rocks, two other black figures, wrapped in numerous devices of tactical equipment, emerge from the water and approach the shore, to begin climbing the irregular wall with remarkable skill.

Exactly four minutes later they reach the top of the cliff, put on the night vision goggles and run towards the fence that surrounds the complex. One of them takes a bolt cutter and breaks the chain that blocks the door; both run quickly to slide in the shadows between a large fuel tank and a pile of stacked barrels.

Once they are conveniently hidden, one of them says in a barely audible voice, "Team one in position ..." A second later, they hear the voice over the intercom ... "Roger that... Team two, in position ... We have control over the cameras and the security monitors." Again, the first man speaks, "Team one, approaching the target..."

The two figures wait for the right moment to run, dodging the lights which, a second before have been illuminating the ground, just a couple of yards away from their position. Quickly, they arrive at the main entrance. Typing in the security code, and manage to enter and close the door, before the lights go through again.

Sneaking along the wall of a long dark corridor, they stop a few seconds later, when listen to the voice on the intercom, "Beware! a security guard is walking to your position". At that moment, they see the unmistakable luminous circle of a flashlight, which moves along the corridor approaching the corner; the light goes through the doors that line up one behind the other, on the opposite wall. Patiently, they wait for the guard to come closer, when the voice in their ears says, "Now!" Suddenly, one of them surprises the guard with a precise blow on the neck, the man immediately falls to the floor; after tying and gagging him, both men continue walking forward, stopping at a metal door marked with a large number 4.

They again introduce the security code in the electronic device embedded in the wall next to the door, which opens, creaking on its hinges. One of them gets into the room, while the other remains by the door, watching.

Calling this a room is an overestimate. It's a filthy cell, of no more than 120 square feet, ventilated by a single embrasure protected with two thick metal bars, located about eight feet high on the side wall. There's no furniture, only a gnawed straw mat, thrown carelessly into a corner of the cell. Huddled over it, there's a black, shrunken silhouette of a man lying unconscious.

Quickly, the newcomer runs towards the fainted guy, lifting his night vision goggles, so he can see him better. The perimeter lights moving outside the embrasure, momentarily illuminate the room, which allows him to identify the unmistakable blond head; He leans and places his fingers on the guy's neck, feeling a weak but steady pulse.

Placing the hands on the man's shoulders, he turns him gently and tries to wake him up whispering, "Danny ..." but he doesn't get an answer. A couple of seconds later, shakes him and says, "Danno ... time to wake up buddy, we have to get out of here!" Realizing he won't be able to wake his friend up, he decides to hurry things and says over the intercom, "We've got him! ... everyone, ready for the extraction ... We'll see you on the fence in two minutes ... "

The man lifts Danny upon his shoulders, and asks "Team two ... the corridor is clear?" The answer isn't too long in coming ... "Affirmative ... corridors are clear, the way to the exit is free."

His teammate runs in front of him, to the door through which they entered a few minutes earlier. When they are about to open it to get out of there, the voice in the intercom says, "Hold on! ... There are three men walking in front of the building ... " After four interminable minutes, the voice speaks again, "The exit is clear! you can leave now. We'll see you on the fence ... "

Both men exit stealthily but quickly, carrying their precious cargo. They have barely run a couple of yards, when the shrill alarm sounds and the screams begin to come from everywhere... A rain of gunshots hinders their escape...


	2. A leopard never changes its spots

**Chapter 1: A leopard never changes its spots**

Two weeks earlier:

The cool sensation of the ocean water envelops him as he submerges. This is the first time he has been swimming since he left the hospital, and it feels amazing!. He starts to move and the water moves with him, obedient, pushing him forward. At first, swims slow, as if he were measuring his strength, but soon, he finds a faster and more constant rhythm. As feet become yards and yards become miles, thinks about everything that has happened in the last few weeks.

His muscles begin to protest and he stops, deciding not to submit his body to too much effort. Begins to float on its back, while he watches the capricious figures formed by the clouds. Today he has his first follow-up appointment with Doctor Heelanu and he feels a little nervous. He takes some minutes to calm down and then starts swimming towards the shore.

Walks on the sand, enjoying the warm sensation of the sun rays in his skin. Eddie comes running and he bends over to greet him. "Hey, there's my boy! I missed you, Eddie!". He strokes the dog's head for a moment and, as he takes the towel, gets up to see Junior walking towards him, ."Good morning, Sir... Steve..." the kid greets him.

"Hi Junior! ... Thanks for bringing Eddie home. He really looks good! "

"Yes ... Dr. Shaw says he's in good shape. He's doing great!"

"And how's the new apartment going? ... Listen Junior, I'm sorry I didn't help you with that, but I was a little busy the last few weeks. "

"I know sir ... It's going very well! Tani is doing a good decoration job ... " The young man can't help but blush a little. Steve sketches a knowing smile and says, "I'm sure she is... And that? What about that?" Both men walk towards the house.

Junior frowns, "That ... sir?"

"Oh! Come on Junior. That thing ... with Tani ... You finally got enough courage to ask her for a date to go have a drink or something?"

"Eh ... I ... I don't think Tani and I ..." Noticing the kid's stutter and shyness, Steve decides to stop pushing him and greets Doris who, at that moment, makes some tea in the kitchen.

Steve goes upstairs to take a shower, leaving Doris and Junior sitting at the table and drinking tea. He looks himself at the mirror, satisfied. His appearance has changed and he looks much more like the strong man he was a few months ago. The muscles are strengthened and his face looks rejuvenated.

Ten minutes later, he goes down and finds Danny and Clara drinking tea with Doris and Junior. "Good morning!" says, kissing Clara on the cheek and asking, "Why are you here so early?"

Danny drinks the last sip of his tea and places his empty cup on the table, "We have a case, and my mom and Doris will have lunch together," he says with a slight tone of concern. After saying goodbye, the three members of Five-0 leave the house and get into the Camaro.

* * *

After a while in silence, Steve asks, "Why do I have the feeling that the idea of your mother and mine having lunch together is not exactly what you'd like to happen?" Danny shrugs and says, sighing "Okay, Steve. You have to admit that Doris is not exactly an ordinary american mother, but my mom is ... and right now, she is in a vulnerable moment in her life. I'm not going to deny I'm a little worried about the influence Doris may have on my mother ... you know, maybe she's thinking in giving her some crazy ideas."

Steve and Junior let out a laugh, and Steve says, "I don't think that happens, Danno. In some way, I think Doris has changed ... I think she finally wants to settle herself. She has been talking about buying a house, taking care of the garden and maybe growing some tomatoes ... "

"Doris? Yeah, sure! ..." Danny answers, laughing for the first time, "A leopard never changes its spots, Steven. Doris will always be Doris and you had better get used to the idea."

Steve replies, "Maybe ... but I think I'll give her the benefit of the doubt." Junior looks at both friends, while they talk. He has really missed the old arguments and smiles funny when he realizes some things never change.

After driving down Ala Moana Avenue, they arrive at Sand Island Beach, to meet the rest of the team who is waiting for them at the crime scene. The curious onlookers crowds around, despite the efforts of Duke and his men to keep them away.

The three men walk, making their way through the crowd, until they reach the place on the beach where Noelani is checking the corpse. Tani smiles to see them arrive; although her look and smile are directed at Junior, she says, "Oh!. Welcome back to your first day, boss! "

Steve smiles when he notices the looks between the youngest Five-0 members and says, "Thanks, Tani. Lou, what do we have?"

The captain begins to explain, "Two guys who were looking for a quiet place to finish the last night party, found the victim on the beach and called 911."

Danny bends down next to Noelani and asks, "Do we have the time and the cause of death?"

The ME replies, "The tide dragged him to the beach, but I can say the cause of death wasn't drowning; Our victim was shot with a .38 caliber on the back of the head. There's no exit wound, so during the autopsy I must recover the bullet. Because of the appearance of the skin, I would say he was in the water, at least eight hours."

Junior looks out to the sea and asks, "They threw him out of a boat?"

Steve says, "Probably, Noelani, we have an ID?"

"Not yet. The prolonged time in the water, makes it impossible to identify the victim by fingerprints. We should try with dental records or DNA."

Two hours later, they still don't have the victim's ID. The DNA is not in the database and there's no information in the dental records. Steve sits behind the desk in his office, wishing for a second, that his first case would have been a little easier. He raises his head and looks at Danny and Jerry who are at the smart table, trying futilely to identify the victim with facial recognition software.

Lou opens the glass door and pokes his head saying, "Noelani called, she retrieved the bullet and sent it to ballistics for analysis, but she says she has something to show us". Steve gets up from his chair and both men walk to the exit to go to the coroner's office.

* * *

Lunch begins quietly. Doris and Clara are sitting facing each other at a table by the window, at Wailana Coffee House, both of them are looking at the menu with curiosity. Clara tells Doris, "Danny says here they have the best pancakes on the island ..."

Doris frowns and says, "Pancakes are not my thing, I'm afraid, really ... I think I prefer a roast beef sandwich."

After ordering, while they slowly drink their coffee, Clara says, "I'm really glad we were able to have lunch together. I really wanted to meet you a little more. I know you and I are very different and our lives have been different too, but our boys love each other like brothers. They have been through many things together ..." Makes a pause to drink her coffee with delight and continues, "Our family loves Steve very much and we're very grateful to him for all he has done for my boy ..."

Doris smiles and says "I'm also grateful for everything Danny has done for Steve". She hesitates for a minute and finally says, "I don't know what Danny told you about us, but circumstances made Steve a lonely man. He and Mary went through a lot, our family was destroyed when he was sixteen ... His father sent Mary and Steve to the mainland and we never got back together ... "

Clara agrees, sympathetic, "It must have been difficult to leave them ... and return to their lives twenty years later. I think I can't imagine what all of you must have felt ... ". Doris nods and says in a low voice, "Indeed, It was very difficult ... I think that no matter how much effort Steve makes, he can never forgive me at all and I think I can't blame him for that. Even though I always kept an eye on them, a friend of the family kept me informed about them all that time ... he did for Steve all his father and I couldn't do ".

Suddenly, Clara feels that she must change the subject and her look turns a little; a slight smile appears on her face, "I must confess I'm a little bit curious about you ... How is it? Being a secret agent and traveling the world catching bad guys, I think I imagine you as a female version of James Bond. "

Doris lets out a loud laugh and says, "Well ... It's a little less glamorous than that. You live always watching your back; the fear for your safety and your family's becomes your constant companion ... you get used to it. You eat badly, you sleep badly, you can't establish lasting relationships because you're constantly moving from one country to another ... But what I have done is to serve my country and I'm proud of it. This is a consolation ... I think. But I'll always regret all the things I took away from my children. Losing their mother so young, it wasn't fair ... "

At that moment, the waitress arrives with the food, and Doris appreciates the interruption. It was always difficult for her to talk about everything that happened with her family, although now she thinks it's a good thing. Clara is a good woman who raised a great man. She deserves to know ...

They start to eat in silence, until Clara says, "Forgive me, but I can't help feeling a little surprised ... Steve and Danny can't be more different, their story, their family ... Danny grew up in a united family, had brothers and sisters, so he had to learn to share things and feelings. He decided to be a cop in a very complicated city. He got married young, he got divorced, he has two sons ... On the other hand, Steve is a military man, a true decorated hero, he became a man in the Navy, he came back to avenge his father's death ..." Noticing Doris's intrigued look, she ends, " I'm just saying, despite all that they are best friends. I mean, what were the chances that two parallel lines that, apparently could never come together, would finally coincide and become what they are together ... I mean both are excellent men, the best cops ... But what they have achieved together is amazing."

"I totally agree with you. That's amazing!" Doris makes a pause and then says, "Well ... we've talked a lot about myself," she takes a bite of her sandwich, "What about you? I guess you must not have enough time to think about what you want to do now ... You lived with your husband for over forty years, it must be hard to imagine life now, isn't it?"

"It's difficult, but I don't want to lock myself up and cry for the rest of my life. This is not what Ed would have wanted, and I don't want to burden Danny or my girls. Everyone has enough on their dish to add one more thing. I'd like to travel ... live happy and enjoy my family as long as I can. There in Jersey I have my daughters and my grandchildren nearby, and Danny travels every time he has a free time, but I miss Grace and Charlie. I feel every time I see them an eternity has passed, Grace is a woman already, soon she will go to college and I feel that I have lost a lot of her life ..."

Doris nods with a nostalgic look, "I feel the same. I'd like to meet Joan, enjoy her as I couldn't do with her mother. Mary was ten years old when I left and I know she got into many problems because of it ... But having Joan, it's as if life gave me a second chance ... "

"I'm also worried ... about Danny." Clara confesses.

"Worried? Why?"

"I'd like him to find a good woman, I'd like he has another chance to be happy. He has had some relationships since his divorce, but he never spoke of any of them like when he talked about Rachel. To his eyes, she was the most incredible woman in the world, he was deeply in love with her, and I'd like him to experience that again ..."

"He's still young ... He'll find someone."

Clara says, worried, "Honestly, I hope so. It scares me to think about the time when his children must go on with their lives and he we'll be alone ... "

Doris nods and says "He will never be alone ..."

"Yes I know. He has his sisters, his children and his friends. But I think love is very important in a man's life ... Danny has always been an incurable romantic and I think he feels incomplete without that ... I don't want to be intrusive, but Steve has someone? "

"Steve is very secretive about his private life and we have hardly talked about it. He was with Catherine a long time and they really loved each other. She understood him ... they knew how to combine their military life with their relationship and it seemed to work well, but then they ended when she started working at the CIA ... According to what Mary told me, apparently there was another girl ... Lynn, I think. But it didn't work very well. I think she was not the woman for him. Maybe he's still in love with Catherine, I don't know ... but I think he also needs a relationship. Someone to makes him happy"

* * *

The team is gathered around the smart table, trying to make something clear of all the confusing information about the case. They have a body, but they have nothing to identify him. Noelani found bumps and bruises on the victim's body, three broken ribs, chest burns and ligature marks on wrists and ankles.

At that moment, Steve's phone rings. When he looks at the screen, identifies a satellite number and walks to his office to answer in private. "McGarrett ..."

"Hello there, Sailor!"

"Catherine! I figured it would be you ... " Steve can't hide the joy he feels when he listens to her voice. "I'm glad to hear you! I didn't have the opportunity to thank you for finding my mother, and I won't ask how you did it, but Thank you! "

"Anytime, Steve. I guess then you talked to her? "

"Yes. She has been home for almost three weeks and we have talked a lot. I'm not going to tell you that everything in our relationship is perfect, but I think we're doing it right, Cath. I think we're both healing old wounds ... And what about you? How's the case?"

"Thorny ... I think it's going to take more time than we thought. Listen Steve, I have something to tell you, but first tell me, how did everything go? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine ... and before you start scolding me like Danny does every day, I'll tell you I feel really good ... The strenght has returned, I feel more energized and today I went back to work ... I'm fine. Today I had the first follow-up appointment and the doctor says everything seems to be all right".

"I'm glad to hear it, really Steve. I was worried…"

"Well, don't worry anymore. You said you had something to tell me ... " Steve says curiously.

She hesitates for a moment, but then says, "It's about the case in which I work. Today new information emerged which I think you should know ..."

Steve sits down and leans back, letting his head rest on the back of the chair, "Catherine, stop for a second and tell me what's going on?"

"It seems the group we are pursuing has been associated with other criminal groups in the past. Criminal groups around the world, Steve. I think I told you that it seemed to have more tentacles than an octopus. But now I think it's like Hydra. Each time we cut one of the heads, two more appear ... The point is, today we receive alarming news. Someone from the past came back ... Steve, Yao Fat is dead. Two agents found him this morning, while searching for the leader of one of the cells of the organization. They killed him with two shots in the head, in a hotel in Ghent. "

Steve straightens up in his chair, placing his elbows on the desk and asks, "Do you have any idea what he was doing in Ghent?"

"Actually, I don't know ... The truth is I need to talk to Doris about this. I don't know when it was the last time she saw Yao, but I think she must know something ... something that can give us a clue about his death."

Steve says, "Cath, I'll tell you what we''re going to do. I'll call her and tell her what happens. As soon as I know something, I'll call you back, okay?"

Catherine answers "Okay. I'll wait for your call. This is really important, Steve."

"I know ... I'll call you soon. I promise."

At the end of the call, presses the button to call Doris, gets up and makes a sign to Danny to come to his office. The detective approaches, opens the door and asks, "What's wrong?"

Steve is on the phone, waiting for his mother to answer, beckons Danny to come in and sit down. At the third tone, Doris answers "Hi Steven! ... We were talking about you."

"Hi Mom. How's lunch?" He asks.

"Indeed, it was very funny. We talked about many things and time flew by. Something is wrong?"

Steve answers, "I'm afraid yes, where are you?"

"We're leaving Wailana, we're going to take a taxi."

"Can you ask the taxi driver to bring you to my office? We need to talk."

"Okay. We'll see you there in ten minutes. "

When the call is finished, he places his phone on the desk and looks at Danny, who asks, worried, "What's wrong?" Steve spends the next few minutes telling Danny about his phone conversation with Catherine, finally the detective says, "And you think Doris can know who killed Yao Fat?"

Steve resignedly replies, "I'd bet my life she could have a pretty close idea."

Danny looks at him for a minute and asks, "What's going to happen now?"

Steve sighs and answer, "I don't know, buddy... I really have no idea."


	3. Back to the game

**Chapter 2: Back to the game**

Ghent, Sint-Pieters Station.

Agent Thiers waits impatiently. The train to Brussels International Airport should depart in a few minutes. Ghent has become a dangerous place and he needs to leave. He breathes agitated, while walks in the middle of the crowd that cram the platform. "Damn it!" He thinks desperately, Gordon sent him to clean up his mess and things got out of control very fast.

He understood the importance of this mission. Finally, they had found Yao Fat, the man who had all the information about them. If that information reached certain ears, some people would fall, in the highest level of the CIA.

Thiers had arrived to Ghent 48 hours earlier, Gordon had told him where to find Yao Fat and had entrusted him with the task of eliminate the guy once and for all. Everything had gone according to plan and Yao Fat is dead, but, at the last minute, two agents broke into the hotel and he barely had time to sneak out.

With his heart pounding his ribs, he boards the train and an hour later arrives at the airport. He runs through the terminal and forty minutes later the huge Boeing 777 takes off. The destination: Washington Dulles International Airport. With a huge sigh of relief, he looks out the window as the runway drifts away and the plane quickly disappears into the clouds.

* * *

Headquarters of the CIA. Langley, Virginia

Agent Gordon is nervously pacing his office. He sighs at the thought of how close they were to being discovered. But finally, Yao Fat is dead and the information is safe, for now. He is fed up with this double game and he knows he'll finally end up dead. With Yao's death, he has achieved some time. Fortunately there's only one loose end: The agent who rescued Yao Fat almost two years ago, from the Black Site in Morocco; that agent is the only one who could fuck them now, because he must have access to all the information.

Silently, opens the folder that is on his desk. On the first page, the picture of Yao Fat and a report on his old links with certain terrorist groups. On the second page, the picture and the information about the dangerous agent, the name: Doris McGarrett.

* * *

Headquarters Five-0 Task Force. Honolulu

Steve and Danny have been silent, sitting facing each other. Steve nervously looks at his watch. At that moment, Doris and Clara get into the HQ. After affectionately greeting Lou and the kids, they walk to the corner office, where Steve and Danny wait standing.

Danny smiles and goes to his mother, kissing her on the cheek and asking, "Well? How was lunch? Steve and I can sleep peacefully tonight, because you have found the solution to all our problems?"

Clara hugs Danny and says "Not yet, but we're on it."

Doris walks up to Steve, who is standing by the door of his office, arms crossed and a worried expression on his face. The smile immediately disappears from his mother's face, who asks concerned, "Are you going to tell me finally what's going on?"

Steve shakes his head and says, "Let's talk in my office..." He moves to the left to let Doris to get in and asks her to sit down. Makes a sign to Danny, who at that moment talks to Lou, so he can join them. Two minutes later, Lou and Clara leave the headquarters together and Danny walks to Steve's office.

After sitting down, both friends stare fixedly at Doris who finally asks, "Oh God! Steven, what's wrong? "

"Mom. A few minutes ago I got a call from Catherine. She told me Yao Fat is dead."

Doris covers her mouth with both hands and closes her eyes. Finally, with a rocky voice, she asks, "What the hell happened?"

"Catherine told me that two CIA agents found him with two shots in the head, in his hotel room in Ghent."

Doris shakes her head, in confusion, "Catherine is in Belgium?"

"Really mom? That's the only thing you can ask now? I don't know, mom and I don't care. The only thing she told me is they found Yao unexpectedly. The agents were following some information about a terrorist group that Catherine is trying to dismantle. What I want to know now, is if this changes your situation in any way. Because I guess Yao was not so stupid as not to seek a backup plan in case of being killed and, I don't know why Doris, but I suspect you are that backup plan."

Doris remains silent for a while, visibly affected by the news. Danny gets up, takes a bottle of water from the little fridge, and gives it to her, without saying a word. She looks up and smiles at him, accepting the bottle and saying simply, "Thank you."

A moment later, Doris has finally clarified her ideas and says, focusing her gaze on Danny, "What I'm going to tell you is classified information. Nobody outside this office should ever know that I told you what I'm going to tell you... " At the silent assent of both men, she sighs and says," I don't know why Yao was still in Ghent, two agents were supposed to take him to a safe place. He had finally came to an agreement with the top CIA levels, and would give them all the information about a group of double agents who have been betraying the Agency for years ... "

Before the inquisitive look of both friends, she says, "Yao never told me who the double agents were, because I asked him not to do it. It's incredibly dangerous information, Steven."

Steve tries to overcome his surprise and asks, "Are you telling me that the information died with Yao? Forgive me mom, but I don't buy it. Yao should have a contingency plan in case things went wrong. "

"Yes ... and no, Steve. Yao put the evidence of the betrayal of those agents in a safe place, and I think I know where this evidence could be."

Steve sighs and presses his temples with his right hand, while saying, "Okay... you must give that information to Catherine as soon as possible, mom ..."

"No ... I can't do that. I would put Catherine in danger, and probably also you and Mary, I have to go personally ... Listen to me, Steve. This can be my exit ticket!"

Seeing that his friend has been speechless, Danny speaks for the first time, "I don't understand ... What do you mean?"

"It's very simple. Yao was going to make a deal with that information. Maybe, we can come to an agreement ... if I recover the evidence and give it to the Agency ... "

Steve says, raising his voice, "Mom, the CIA doesn't make deals ... CIA guys just get what they want."

Doris draws a smile and says, "Don't be so naive, Steven! The Agency makes deals all the time, I've been years, Steve ... Years trying to get out of this. I want to live all the time I can, the rest of my life, with you and Mary ... If this is my opportunity, I plan to take advantage of it ... I'll talk to them and try to make a deal."

Doris starts to stand up to leave, but Steve takes her arm and says softly, "Wait a minute ... I don't know if you're right or not, but if we're going to do this, we should do it right. Do me a favor and talk to Catherine, mom, she can help us ... It's all I ask of you, please talk to her." In silence, Doris nods as she drops herself back into the chair.

Steve picks up the phone and he's about to dial Catherine's satellite number, when Danny stops him saying, "Are you sure we can talk to her from your phone?" At Steve's confused look, Danny explains "I don't know well how these things work, but surely we're not the only ones who know that Doris could have access to that information, Steve. I'm sure it's too early for someone to have your phone intervened, but is not it better to use a secure line? "

Mother and son smile, and Steve says, "Well, Danno. You finally learned something! You're absolutely right." He opens the top drawer of his desk and pulls out a box with a satellite phone. After turning it on, dials Catherine's number. She answers two seconds later, "Rollins ..."

"Cath ..."

"Steve! ... I didn't recognize the number. I don't know if I'm happy or worried about you're using a satellite phone ... Something is going on, right? "

"Cath, Doris is here and there's something she should discuss with you ..."

"Okay... Did you tell her?"

Steve only answers, "Yeah, I did", he replies, Cath asks, "Can you give her the phone? I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Steve gets up and gives the phone to Doris, then beckons to Danny and they both leave the office. Walk towards the smart table, where Tani and Jerry are waiting for them. Steve asks, "Jerry, do we have something? Did you finally identify the victim?"

Jerry begins to move his hands quickly on the table, saying, "I don't know ... Tani had an idea and we decided to see what happened. We took some images of our victim and compared them with the images from security cameras of airports, hotels and public buildings, to see if we could draw a timeline and find out where he was in the past days. We found this ..." Jerry shows a couple of images of a guy passing through a passenger exit door at Honolulu International Airport.

Jerry continues explaining his findings, "Apparently, our victim arrived three days ago, coming from Washington, D.C. He traveled with the name of Carson Hayes ..." noticing Danny's look, he says," Yes ... we already searched the name and his picture in the system, but there are no coincidences. This Carson Hayes doesn't exist, except on paper ... I mean, his passport. Another camera recorded the moment he meets this man." Jerry shows another image on the screen, where the victim is talking to a stocky man wearing a baseball cap and sun glasses. Jerry continues, "They both leave the airport and get into a black BMW. We checked the license plates and the car was reported stolen a day earlier. Hayes didn't check in at any hotel and we couldn't get more images after these."

Danny looks carefully at the images on the screen and asks, "What about the car? Did you find something about the car?"

Tani replies, "Indeed yes, HPD was following the robbery report and found the BMW two hours ago, in the North Shore, in the parking lot of Hale'iwa Harbor. We asked Duke for a CSU unit to process the vehicle."

At that moment, Doris leaves Steve's office and walks towards them, but stops suddenly when she looks at the victim's picture on the screen. The surprise on her face doesn't go unnoticed for Steve who approaches her and asks in a low voice, "What's up mom? Did you talk to Catherine?" She nods, without looking away from the screen. Steve looks alternately at Doris and the screen and says to Tani and Jerry, "Guys, can you give us a minute please?"

"Of course!" Jerry says, "We're going to bring something to eat. I didn't have lunch today and I'm hungry." Taking Tani by the arm, they both leave the headquarters.

A few seconds later, Steve looks confused at Danny, who shrugs, then asks, "Mom, do you know this man?"

Doris stutters a little, asking "W.. What happened to him?"

Danny replies, "Some guys found his body, this morning on a beach in Sand Island, he was shot in the head." Without knowing why, Danny adds, "We still don't know who he is."

Steve sighs and says, "We don't know yet, Danny, but I think Doris knows who he is. Right mom? You know this man ... "

Doris nods and whispers "He's Agent Morgan Mitchell ... He's one of the two agents who were supposed to take Yao Fat to a safe place ..."


	4. The game rules

**Chapter 3: The game rules**

_Doris nods and whispers "He's Agent Morgan Mitchell ... He's one of the two agents who were supposed to take Yao Fat to a safe place ..."_

Steve can't believe what he hears, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Steven! Agent Mitchell and I worked on several covert missions in the last few years."

Steve tries to assimilate the information provided by his mother. "That's why we couldn't identify him, isn't it? … Mom. This man arrived in Hawaii two days ago, using a passport with the name of Carson Hayes. "

Danny interrupts Steve and says "Of course, if we try now to get some information about Morgan Mitchell we'll find a CIA file covered with thick black lines. right?"

Steve and Doris nod. After a few minutes of an eloquent silence, Steve returns to his initial question "Mom. What did Catherine tell you?"

She hesitates for a moment and then replies "I told her about my plan to come to an agreement with the Agency, in exchange for the evidence left by Yao" Steve hopes in vain that she continues, until he decides to push her, "And? What did she say?"

"Catherine thinks we have an opportunity here, if we play our cards well. But, of course, first we must rescue that evidence."

"And where exactly do we have to go to look for that evidence?" He asks, afraid to hear the answer.

"To Ghent, of course. But you won't go anywhere, I have agreed with Catherine to meet her there after I talk to the agent in charge, at the CIA office, here in Hawaii."

"Mom ... That's not in dispute. I'm not going to let you do this alone and that's my last word. If we're going to do this, we'll do it together. Understood?"

Doris hesitates for a second, but Steve's expression leaves no room for an argument. "Fine..." she answers, "But first we must find out if they are willing to negotiate a deal. I'll make a couple of calls in your office, okay?"

Steve nods quietly, while Doris walks back to Steve's office, she sits down on the chair, pulling out her cell phone. The two friends gets into Danny's office, who asks incredulously, "Are you really thinking about going to Belgium?"

"I'm not going to let her go alone, Danno. It's a dangerous play and she needs all the support she can get. "

Danny looks at him with an expression that says he knows there's something more behind his friend's decision to go to Ghent, he doesn't hesitate to ask with some sarcasm, "And of course, Catherine being there has nothing to do, right?"

"Honestly, Danny, I haven't thought about it. Of course it will be very useful to have her help there and, now you mention it, yes, it will be good to see her again, but from this to what you're thinking, there is a great distance, Danny. I don't know if we'll have time to have that conversation; Actually, I doubt it"

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Seeing Steve rolls his eyes, Danny says, "You know Catherine and you have unfinished issues and a pending conversation. My advice is you find the time to have that conversation, Steve. You can't keep postponing this."

* * *

Headquarters of the CIA. Langley, Virginia.

Twelve hours earlier.

The Director of the CIA, James Bennett is furious, looks at Gordon who is sitting in front of him, with a threatening expression, "What the hell happened, Gordon? Mitchell and Mathews were supposed to escort Yao Fat to a safe place".

Gordon answers. "There was a change of plans, sir. I assigned two other agents for that mission. They should contact Yao Fat this afternoon, to get him out of Ghent. "

Bennett can't believe what he hears, shakes his head and asks, "A little too late, given the circumstances, don't you think? Why no one informed me about this change of orders? "

"I didn't think it was necessary. It was a routine change. We received information about Doris McGarrett traveled to Hawaii to meet with her son, who was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago. Since the negotiations with Yao Fat were almost over, I sent Agent Mitchell to Hawaii with the mission of contacting her and taking her to Brussels."

"And Mathews?"

Gordon shrugs and answers, "I don't know, sir. He had to communicate with his supervisor this morning, but he didn't yet."

Agent Gordon leaves the Director's office with his legs shaking slightly. The man spits fire, for how bad things are going in Europe. The Director has informed him, as if he didn't already know, about Yao Fat's death. He has shouted and ranted about  _the golden opportunity_ , - in his own words-, the Agency has lost to know the identity of the agents who have been playing on both sides of the field, selling information to the enemy, and putting innumerable lives of agents and civilians in a mortal danger.

He always thought Bennett was naive, an innocent puppet, manipulated by infinitely more intelligent men, but certainly less moral. Today proves it once again. Without a doubt, Bennett knows there's a group of agents playing that double game; what he doesn't know (and he hopes no one will ever know), is that he, Scott Gordon, Deputy Director for Military Operations, heads that group.

After entering his office, he slam the door and goes to the small fridge, takes a cold beer and drinks it in one big swallow. His desk phone rings and he picks up the receiver to hear his secretary's voice saying, "Sir, Agent Thiers is here."

"Tell him to come in ..." he answers harshly.

Thiers gets into the office, the man's skin is white as paper, deep circles accentuate his already emaciated face. Gordon points to the chair.

After sitting down and trying futilely to hide the trembling of his hands, Thiers says, "Sir, I arrived from Belgium half an hour ago and I came straight here."

"Congratulations Agent Thiers, you fulfilled your mission ..." Gordon's voice exudes sarcasm and disdain, Director Bennett is furious! "You just needed to be a little more discreet. Now, the whole agency knows about this. It was supposed to take days to find the body. "

"I know sir ... I don't know what happened!"

"I'll tell you, Thiers. Two agents, working in an undercover mission in Istanbul to dismantle the organization of Kemal Ayidin, traveled to Ghent following information provided by Naval Intelligence, about an alleged negotiation of arms and explosives. The deal would close in the same hotel where Yao Fat was hiding, and in an incredible coincidence, they found his corpse." Thiers's skin tone has gone from white to pale green and nausea grips his stomach. Gordon continues in a threatening tone, "Are you sure those agents never saw you at the hotel?"

"I'm sure, sir. When they knocked down the door of the room, I had already left there. When I heard them, I opened the door of the emergency exit and went straight down to the parking lot." Then, in a trembling voice, he dares to ask, "Sir, did anyone else know Yao Fat was in Ghent?"

Gordon straightens up in his chair and stares at the scared man, "Two agents, Mitchell and Mathews had the mission to take him to a safe place. You should not worry, Thiers, we've taken care of them ..." Gordon says with a sinister smile.

After Thiers leaves the office, Gordon picks up the phone and presses a speed dial button, saying a few seconds later, "Thiers has just left, you know what you have to do ..."

The voice on the other side of the line answers "Yes, sir ..."

Gordon asks, "Do you know something about Mitchell?"

"Yes sir. He's dead."

"All right. What about Doris McGarrett?"

"We've been watching her, but we have not had the opportunity to approach her."

"Damn it, Sanders!" Gordon says impatiently.

"We must proceed with great caution, sir. Everyone on the island knows her son. "

"Kill her, Sanders. I don't want to hear any more excuses! "

"Yes sir."

At the end of the call, Gordon is thoughtful for a minute, the situation is delicate. It's one thing to try to eliminate Doris McGarrett, but another, much more complicated is to deal with her son. Gordon met and worked with Lieutenant Commander McGarrett in Iraq and Afghanistan, he knows he's a relentless man. If he has to choose, he knows Steve McGarrett is infinitely more dangerous than his mother.

* * *

Offices of the Central Intelligence Agency, Honolulu

This afternoon Steve and Doris are sitting in front of Agent George Bunty. Steve has shown him some pictures of agent Mitchell's corpse and Doris starts talking about Yao Fat's death. Bunty looks at her in surprise and says, "Yao Fat's location was a highly guarded secret, how the hell did you hear about this?"

Doris smiles bitterly and answers, "It doesn't matter how I found out. The point is I also know that agents Mitchell and Mathews had the mission to get Yao out of Ghent. Instead, Agent Mitchell appears dead on a beach in Sand Island. I don't know about you, but I think it's an incredible coincidence, Agent Bunty." After a calculated pause, Doris says, "I'm also aware of the agreement to which senior management of the Agency had come with Yao in exchange for certain information ... I'm willing to give you that information."

Bunty looks at her surprised and asks, "In exchange for what?"

"That's something I should discuss only with Director Bennett," she replies with an empty expression.

"I'll have to check with him ..." Bunty tells her, as he gets up and leaves his office saying, "Please excuse me for a minute".

Steve and Doris stay in Bunty's office, quietly. A couple of minutes later, Bunty comes in again and says, "I've talked to Director Bennett, he agreed to have a video conference with you," Agent Bunty points to the door and says, "Please come with me to the video conference room."

A moment later, the three get into a small room, with a large screen in the background, facing three rows of seats. A man in a camouflage uniform is sitting at a desk in front of a laptop. Upon seeing them enter he tells Bunty, "The video conference will be ready in a minute sir ..."

Bunty nods and says, "Excellent! thank you Lieutenant, you can go out, I'll call you as soon as we finish here," the young lieutenant leaves the room.

The image of Director Bennett appears a short time later on the screen, saying, "Agent Bunty ..."

Bunty salutes respectfully, "Good afternoon, sir ..."

Seeing that Doris and Steve are next to Bunty, Bennett also greets them, "Commander McGarrett, I see you have decided to come with your mother today."

Steve greets "Director ... it's a pleasure to see you again".

Bennett says, "Agent Bunty tells me you have some information of interest to us ..."

"Yes, sir ..." Doris replies, "I can give you all the evidence of the information that Yao Fat had about the identity of the double agents that so many headaches have caused ..."

Bennett asks sarcastically, "What will be the cost for that information?"

"Director. I want to retire ... I have wanted to do it for several years, but the agency always tells me I am a valuable agent and they didn't allowed me to leave. My proposal is this: I'll carry out this last mission for you, I'll give you all the information Yao had in his possession and all he told me along the past few years, and then I'll retire. The Agency will allow me to live my last years with my family and my friends ... It's the only thing I want."

Bennett remains silent, meditating for a moment. The offer is truly tempting. In any case, Doris doesn't have many years of service left. "And do you intend to do this alone?" He asks.

Steve speaks for the first time, "Of course she won't go alone, Director. I'll go with her."

"Okay, commander. I don't know if I should be surprised, It's not a secret the Agency tried to work with you in the past, but I must tell you the fact that you support this mission makes the offer infinitely more attractive. Your reputation precedes you... "

Steve is unfazed by the praise and says, "There are a couple of conditions ..."

Bennett nods and asks, "What are these conditions?"

"First. You won't question our methods. In the end, what you want is that information, so you should not intervene or block us. We'll do what we have to do to get it, okay?"

"It sounds good to me" Bennet answers, "Is there a second condition?"

"Yes ... Nobody in the agency should be aware of what we're going to do in Europe. We won't talk to anyone, except with you ... "

Bennett looks confused, "But, we have excellent agents in that part of Europe who can be useful when the time comes ..."

"As you understand, Director, Agent Mitchell's death confirms my suspicions that someone from the agency, someone who occupies a high-level position, is part of the group of double agents. It's very strange that an agent in charge of a highly confidential mission was killed a few hours after Yao Fat's body was found, especially when that agent supposed to be in Ghent at that time."

"Okay ..." Bennett says, "You're right. Condition accepted, no one besides me would know about your mission. Anything else?"

"One last thing, we must have in writing the guarantees that Doris will be released from the Agency, once we have delivered the evidence, okay?"

"Of course, Commander."


	5. Here we go!

**Chapter 4: Here we go!**

Doris and Steve go out to the street, after the videoconference with Director Bennett, without noticing the two men who watch them from a black Mercedes parked at a short distance. Definitely, things went better than they seemed at first, in silence, they get into Steve's truck who drives away a couple of minutes later, followed at some distance, by the black car.

They arrive at the Palace half an hour later; after entering the headquarters, walk directly to Danny's office, who awaits them impatiently. Once they have sat down, the detective asks, "Well? What happened?"

"We have a deal!" Doris says, triumphant. "Director Bennett agreed that I retire after this mission."

"I must say I'm happy for you, guys!", Danny smiles, looking fixedly at his friend, who has not said a single word and seems lost in his thoughts. "So, How we will do this?" He asks.

Steve blinks a couple of times and says, "The plan is really simple, Doris and I will fly to Ghent, if possible tonight and we're going to find that evidence ..." Danny interrupts him saying, "I don't think so, Steve. Maybe you shouldn't go alone ... I think I ... "

"No, Danny." Steve answers with that unmistakable tone of voice that doesn't allow arguments. "I need you here ... Five-0 must work normally to avoid suspicion. No one, not even the governor, should know what's really happening. "

Danny shakes his head, in a movement of defeat. "I still believe you need someone else to cover your back, buddy ..."

Doris gets up and starts walking around the office, saying, "Maybe Danny is right, Steve. Every covert mission needs a backup, I think your team should be aware of what we plan to do, in case things get out of control. "

Steve looks alternately at Danny and Doris and finally says, "Fine! we will tell them, but only as an emergency plan. For now, only you and me will go, the least we need is to draw attention; the team will be ready in case we need them, okay?" Danny smiles, relieved and surprised, grateful that Steve agrees to have a contingency plan.

Lou and the kids enter in the HQ and stop by the smart table, with an expression of frustration. When Steve and Danny leave the office, Lou tells them angrily. "We don't have anything! The case is still stuck." Steve smiles and says "What if we leave for today and go for a beer? Tonight I buy the first round!" Lou nods with a smile and Steve says, "Good! We'll see you guys at Tropics in half an hour, okay?"

* * *

Milos Island, Greece.

David Kanakaredes presses the button on his phone to end the call and sighs frustrated. He's sitting in his favorite chair with his eyes lost in the ocean. This is his favorite place to meditate, in sight of endless miles of water of a deep blue color. In the distance it's impossible to distinguish where the sea ends and the sky begins. This is definitely a place that forces him to think about his position in the eternal order of things.

Yao Fat's death is the first step to fix the mess. Since the man decided to abandon his business and dedicate himself to an almost monastic life, David's own business had become more and more complicated. Several deals with some organizations in Japan, North Africa and the Middle East, had failed at the last minute.

The CIA had held Yao for some time, until he practically disappeared from the face of the earth two years ago. It was impossible for anyone to know where he was hiding. Kanakaredes even bribed several top agents of the CIA to find out where the elusive former leader of the Yakuza was.

Finally, after two years of work, the useless Gordon had given some results. He learned Yao was coming to an agreement with Director Bennett to expose some double agents and their links to the organization David leads. Fortunately, the man Gordon sent had fulfilled the mission: He killed Yao Fat.

He gets angry with himself for having been so naive to think that by eliminating Yao the problems were over; A bitter smile is drawn on his face, he should have assumed the man revealed the information to someone else. It turned out that Yao's confidant has been Shelburne, neither more nor less.

Now, Gordon has just informed him Shelburne is in Hawaii, and she's probably planning to give all the information to her bosses. He can't let Gordon solve this, it will be necessary to take charge personally if he wants to minimize the risk. Starts searching among his phone's contacts and makes a call.

* * *

Honolulu

The mysterious black Mercedes is parked in front of the Palace when the Five-0 members leave the building. McGarrett and his mother stop in front of the truck and exchange some words with the blond detective. At that moment, the phone rings and the man at the wheel answers after identifying the origin of the call "Yes, sir ?..."

"Mr. Sanders ... Are you keeping an eye on the target?"

"Yes sir. At this moment she's leaving his son's office. "

"Do you have any idea what her next move will be?"

"No sir. So far we have followed them but they haven't given any clue as to what she plans to do. "

"Okay..." says Kanakaredes, "It's not very difficult to guess what they are planning, and we can not risk either. We must get ahead of them ... "

"Do you want me to eliminate her, Sir?"

"No ... We need to retrieve that information and make sure the incriminating evidence doesn't see the light of day. Shelburne is the only one who knows its location, so we will follow her until we have all the evidence in our possession. "

"What do you want us to do with McGarrett?" The man asks, rubbing his chin with his right hand.

"He can be very useful. Time has passed and Shelburne has probably lost some of her... let's say, skills. Surely he'll make sure his mother completes the mission, but we must give him a small incentive to cooperate with us. Did you do the research I asked? "

"Yes sir. Apparently, Commander McGarrett is a lonely man. Since he left the Navy, lives alone, or at least he did until his mother came to Hawaii a few weeks ago. He's not married and he doesn't have children, his only family is his sister, but she went back to the mainland a couple of days ago. He has a great friendship relationship with his team, but the closest thing he has to a family is his partner, Detective Daniel Williams. According to what I could find out, they have worked together for more than eight years and they're great friends, they spend their free time together and people say they love each other as brothers."

"Excellent ..." Kanakaredes voice changes distill a touch of disdain, "Our Commander's beloved brother will be very useful to our plans ..."

* * *

Steve turns on the engine of his truck, smiles at Doris in a reassuring way and drives towards the street, while watching in the rearview mirror, when Danny gets into the Camaro. His partner has told him that, before meeting them at Tropics, he must pick up Grace and take her to Rachel's house.

Half an hour later, a waitress shows them a table in the corner of the crowded bar in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Steve and Doris sit down and order a beer while they wait for the rest of the team. Lou is the first to join them, dropping himself into the chair and saying, "I hate cases without a solution. How are we supposed to solve this homicide, if we don't even know the real name of our victim?"

Steve smiles at the captain and directs his gaze to the entrance of the bar, at the moment when Junior and Tani enter, holding hands and followed by Jerry, who comes a couple of steps behind them. When the young SEAL's eyes meet Steve's gaze, he blushes visibly and beckons to Tani who, immediately, releases Junior's hand. With an expression of indifference, the three walk towards the table, where Lou and Steve exchange a look of complicity.

Once the kids have sat down and ordered their drinks, Lou asks Steve, unable to hide his curiosity, "Let's see, McGarrett. You never buy the drinks, unless you have something important to tell us. What is going on?"

Steve takes a long swallow of his beer and begins to explain the situation to the team. Lou's expression changes from curious to genuinely worried, "So our victim is Agent Mitchell of the CIA ... I guess I should have imagined something like that, it was too suspicious that we couldn't find any record of him."

Doris nods and says, "I don't need to tell you that the situation is complicated. If we want to take advantage of the information and the incriminating evidence that Yao left behind, we must act ASAP. "

Junior takes a sip of beer and asks "So, what's the plan?"

Steve looks at his watch, trying to calculate the time Danny will take to join them, however, his partner already knows this part of the plan, so he explains, "Indeed it's quite simple, Doris and I will travel to Ghent and retrieve that evidence . It really should not take more than a couple of days. Then we will fly to Langley where we're going to meet Director Bennett. "

"How can we help, sir?" Junior asks.

"At the moment, just waiting and delaying Mitchell's identification. No one should know what we're about to do, not even the governor. Once we come back, we'll release the information and solve the case, okay? "

"Will you be on a commercial flight?"

"No ..." Steve says, "On the instructions of Director Bennett, Agent Bunty has prepared a plane for us, once we talk to Catherine, we'll leave."

"What about her?" Lou asks, unable to suppress a smile.

Doris answers this time, "I must call her in an hour. We will find her in Ghent, she will help us to locate the evidence and take it to Virginia safely. "

They continue to drink their beers, defining the details of the information that the team can and can't give to the governor or HPD. Steve looks at his watch for the third time, confused by Danny's delay, when his cell phone starts ringing. After looking at Grace's smiling face on the screen, he answers "Hi Gracie! ... "

"Hi, Uncle Steve ... Is Danno with you? We agreed that he would pick me up at Lucy's house twenty minutes ago, but he has not arrived yet. He doesn't answer his phone either ..."

Steve makes a quick calculation, it must have been at least an hour since he saw Danny getting on the Camaro. Trying not to sound nervous, he says to Grace, "Listen Gracie ... I'll try to locate Danno, okay?"

"Thanks, Uncle Steve. Either way, I've talked to my mom and she will come to pick me up. If you talk to Danno, please tell him not to worry and I'll call him tonight. "

"Okay, Gracie ..."

After finishing the call, Steve pushes the speed dial button to call Danny. After several unanswered tones, the phone sends to the voicemail, "This is Detective Williams. You already know what to do…"

Noticing Steve's worried face, Lou asks, "What's wrong?"

Steve shakes his head and says, "Danny is not answering his phone. He was supposed to pick up Grace at a friend's house and take her with Rachel before he join us. "

Without saying anything else, everyone gets up and leaves the bar quickly, heading to the headquarters. As soon as they pass through the doors, Steve tells Jerry, "Jer ... please track Danny's phone."

Jerry starts working at the smart table, and three minutes later he says, "I got it! Danny's phone is only four blocks from here, on the corner of Punchbowl and Pohukaina.

* * *

Without saying a single word, Steve runs out of the headquarters. Ten minutes later he's standing next to the Camaro. The driver's door is open and Danny's phone is in the passenger seat, but there is no sign of his friend.

At that moment, Steve's phone rings. Without bothering to look at the screen, he answers desperately, "McGarrett ..."

"Commander McGarrett" a husky voice says from the other side of the line, "I think you've lost something ..."


	6. The hunter becomes the hunted

**Chapter 5: The hunter becomes the hunted.**

_"Commander McGarrett ... I think you've lost something ..."_

Steve feels a strong wave of anger rising in his stomach, with intense contempt, he asks, "Where is Detective Williams?"

The voice sounds condescending, "Calm down, Commander. He's fine ... for now... and if he gets out of this or not, depends completely on you ... "

"What do you want?" He asks looking fixedly at Lou, who, intrigued, is pendind of each of his words.

The man answers, with the same empty tone, "I think we could say this is a simple barter... I have something that you want and you can get something that I need ... If I'm not wrong, you're planning to take a vacation in the beautiful city of Ghent, aren't you? "

Steve doesn't answer, and the man continues, "Get that evidence for me Commander, and Detective Williams will come home, safe and healthy. I don't think it's necessary to tell you should not talk about this conversation with anyone else in the CIA or the police, or your dear friend will suffer the consequences. Have I been clear?"

"Perfectly ..." Steve says, "How can I get in touch with you?"

"Don't worry, I'll call you tomorrow, and you'd better have good news for me."

Steve asks, "How do I know Detective Williams is fine?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to trust my word, Commander," the man replies, and without saying anything else, the call ends.

Steve is stunned, looking at his phone, with a feeling of tightness in his chest. Guilt and helplessness grips his throat, "Damn it!" He thinks, "this guy really did his homework." Obviously the man on the phone, wants Steve to make sure Doris retrieves the evidence and doesn't hand it over to Director Bennett; and he used the most effective weapon ... he threatens the life and safety of the most important person in his life.

Takes a couple of combat breaths, and tries to regain control over his thoughts. After blinking a couple of times, he realizes his team is watching him, with a mixture of curiosity and concern. Lou asks "What's going on?"

Steve mutters, "That bastard kidnapped Danny!"

Tani can't contain herself and asks "Who ...?"

Steve looks at the four members of the team and says, "I don't know who he is ... but he wants to prevent Doris from giving the evidence to the CIA and they took Danny to blackmail me. We must do something, and we must do it now! ... Lou ..." he says quietly, "This means we need a change of plans. I'll see all you at the restaurant in half an hour. Each one must get in there on a different way and make sure nobody follows you... Jerry, bring your portable equipment. We will need to create some distractions, but we can't do it from the office. "

The man nods silently and all the team members leave, each taking a different way. Steve thinks, with reason, that the information about the deal with the CIA must have leaked out immediately after their interview with Director Bennett, but the problem is he can't know who is responsible for that leak. Theoretically, the only ones who know about the matter, beyond Doris and himself, are agent Bunty and director Bennett. Unless ... No ... he can't have such bad luck! ... He needs to talk to Doris, who has been waiting for him at the Palace.

He keeps Danny's phone in his shirt pocket and closes the Camaro door, peeping around him, to find out if there's someone suspicious, someone who's probably been watching over his mother, probably, for the last few weeks.

Two vehicles draw his attention: A black Mercedes, parked in front of a liquor store; Two men are inside. The man behind the wheel speaks on the phone; the other, in the passenger seat, constantly looks in the rearview mirror, while taking a couple of deep puffs on his cigarette.

The other vehicle is a white cargo van, parked in the corner, a couple of yards from the Mercedes. From his own experience, he knows this kind of vehicles is ideal for long days of surveillance. At that moment, two men, dressed in white overalls, leave the liquor store, with two six-pack of beers and several bags of snacks; they go up to the VAN that moves a few seconds later, turning right on Ala Moana Blvd.

Then, it's the Mercedes ... thinks, but he must be sure if he wants to cheat them. He starts walking back to the Palace, taking out his cell phone; he knows it's not a safe line, but at that moment, he almost wants the bad guys to be listening. Presses a button and waits, Duke answers on the first tone, "Sergeant Lukela ..."

"Duke ... Hey buddy, I need a favor. Make sure someone picks up Danny's Camaro, it's on the corner of Punchbowl and Pohukaina. Please take it to the HPD parking lot, we'll pick it up later, okay? ... Thanks, man."

As he begins to walk the four blocks to the Palace, he realizes the engine of the Mercedes has been turned on ... Good! He must make sure they see him. Eight minutes later, he enters the building, but not before glancing at the black car being parked under the shade of the trees, some distance from the Silverado.

Steve gets into his office, where Doris awaits him restless; he doesn't say a single word, takes the satellite phone and a small intriguing metal box from his desk drawer, and they both leave the headquarters. A few seconds later, they climb the stairs to the roof and with great agility, run to the other side, go downstairs by the emergency exit, leaving the building through the back door, towards Queen Street. Ten minutes later, a taxi leaves them at the door of the restaurant, where the rest of the team are waiting for them.

The eloquent look of Lou and the guys, asks all the questions without words. After opening the door, they get in quickly and Jerry places a laptop on the bar counter with a couple of devices that Steve can't identify. He remembers they don't need to steal the neighbor's WiFi signal anymore, because Kamekona has been responsible for installing their own Internet connection just a few days ago.

"Okay... Steve begins to explain, staring at Doris, "Somehow, this guy found out we were coming to an agreement with Bennett. We must find out where the leak is, but for now, we need to create some distractions ... Mom, we're going to need a change of plans ... "

Doris nods and says, "I understand ... Steve, I can take care of myself. I know you need to find out where Danny is and make sure he doesn't get hurt. Maybe I should go alone to Ghent. Anyway, I'll meet Catherine there."

Steve shakes his head and says, "That's not going to happen. You're not going alone. But I won't deny my priorities have changed drastically in the last hour. Danny's life is the most important thing to me ..." Hearing these words, Doris's gaze changes with an indefinable expression, opens her mouth to argue, but Steve interrupts her, raising his left hand and giving Junior an eloquent look.

Without words, the young SEAL nods, fully understanding what his mentor is asking ... "I'll go to Ghent with her, sir ..." Steve looks at him with infinite gratitude, but Doris shakes her head, muttering "No ... no, I can't let you risk yourself like that."

Steve shakes his head, with a bitter smile, "That's the part you don't get yet, Doris. You still don't understand, right? How do I have to explain to you that Five-0 works this way? We are family,  _Ohana_ , Doris. If one of us is in danger, the others will be there for him, we trust each other blindly ..." Without letting his mother have the opportunity to argue, he goes on to say, "Covert operations always need backup, those were your words exactly. Well, at this moment I can't think of anyone better than Junior to go instead of me... He's a SEAL, he has been on dangerous missions before and he has the same training as I had... "

He tries to contain the emotions that crowd in his chest and, looking at his mother and each member of his team says in apology, "I can't let Danny get hurt by a problem that is only mine ... I know I'm asking too much, guys, but we're going to need your help ... from all of you "

Tani gets up and approaches Steve, placing her hand on his forearm, in a comforting gesture, "Here we are ... We'll work together, we'll get that evidence, we'll ruin that jerk and we'll bring Danny back home, okay?" The rest of the team nod silently. Steve sighs and says simply, "Thank you guys ..."

Trying to make the intense and emotional moment pass, Lou asks, "Okay. How will we do this? "

Steve begins to explain, "Junior. You and Doris will go to Ghent and meet Catherine there. The plane is waiting in Hickham. I don't need to tell you that you should be practically invisible and avoid any kind of surveillance. I suspect the guy we face has eyes and ears everywhere ... Mom, once you have obtained what we're looking for, it will be necessary to duplicate everything you can. We must have a backup of everything, in case things don't go the way we want ..." Doris nods silently and Steve continues, "Jerry ..." the man looks at Steve, hopeful; He wants to help, but not from the trench, as always. He wants to take an active part in the operation, timidly replies, "Tell me ... What do you need?"

"I need you to book several flights, departing from Ghent. Munich, London, Paris, Washington, New York, wherever... I need you to put my name on all the passenger lists you can ... I'm sure these guys are going to be watching of all my movements and we're going to give them something to do ... I also want you to clone the signal from my cell phone... If these guys are going to track it, my phone will be in Ghent, like it's supposed to be." Jerry starts typing frantically on the laptop.

"What about us?" Tani asks, anxious. Steve looks at her and smiles a little, "We three will go back to the Palace ... We need to find out where Danny is and our friends in the black Mercedes are going to tell us ... The hunter will become the prey."

Doris looks at her watch and says, "We have to call Catherine ..."

Steve takes the satellite phone and dials the number, she answers at the first tone, "Hello? ... "

"Cath ..."

"Hello there, Sailor! ... I was starting to worry."

"And for a good reason, Cath ... Someone found out about our negotiating plans with the Agency and kidnapped Danny ..."

"No!" Catherine says, with anguish in her voice, "How did they know?"

Steve sighs and says, "Apparently we were not as cautious as we thought. Someone has been watching Doris's movements, probably since she returned to the Island."

"I guess that means we'll have to divide the tasks ..." she answers.

Steve smiles, Catherine's ability to guess his thoughts, even before he said anything, was one of the things he liked the most, "I'm afraid so, Cath ... Doris will go to Ghent and Junior will go with her. The rest of us will try to find out where Danny is being held. In any case, recovering the evidence and putting it in a safe place is one of the priorities ..."

"But it's not the  priority number one, is it? ..." she says, trying to make the slight sting of jealousy isn't noticed in her voice.

Steve says, "Cath ... you know well I won't risk Danny's life for any reason."

"You're not thinking about handing the evidence to that guy, are you?"

"No, I won't do that... if I can help it ..."

Catherine hesitates for a moment and says in a low voice, "I was hoping we... we can talk..."

He whispers, "And we're going to talk Cath... At the first chance, we will have that conversation, I promise".

After finishing the call, Steve takes the metal box he took out of his desk drawer and opens it with parsimony. From the interior, he takes out a stack of passports, after seeing the picture inside each one, he gives them to the team members, who look at him in awe. Calmly he explains, "I've had them for a long time. I always assumed there would be a time when we would need them." Everyone looks at his passport. They are perfect to the last detail, except for the fact that the names are fake.

Ten minutes later, everyone leaves the restaurant. Junior gets into his car, with Doris in the passenger seat and they go to Hickham. The others get into Lou's truck, and go directly to Five-0 headquarters.

Steve gets out of the car, in the corner of Queen and Mililani and enters the Palace through the back door. Soon after, he leaves the building through the main door and walks directly to the black Mercedes, which is still parked in the same place; The two guys sitting inside, look at him in surprise, not realizing that Tani and Lou are approaching from both sides of the vehicle, pointing their guns. Lou's voice says out loud. "Five-0! Get out of the car, hands where I can see them! "

Seeing that the men are not willing to get out of the car so easy, Lou says, "I don't think testing our determination is a good idea guys. We are Five-0, we have a reputation for ignoring the appropriate police procedures and we have immunity and means to not fear the consequences. I suggest you get out of the car with your hands up, if you don't want this to get nasty..." Steve looks at them impassively, stands in front of the car, with his arms crossed over his chest and smiling cynically. A few seconds later, both men get out of the car and Lou and Tani handcuff them.

* * *

Danny opens his eyes, dazed. "What the hell happened?" He thinks, as he realizes he's lying on his side on a cold metal floor, his hands are tied behind his back. The headache is intense and feels the sticky and hot blood on the back of the neck. Tries to identify where he is. A persistent noise surrounds him and the unmistakable sensation of pressure in the ear and vertigo, gives him the first clue: he's in an airplane. Looks around, a man is sitting four or five feet from him, reading a magazine.

The man raises his head and looks at Danny, realizing the prisoner has opened his eyes. Calmly, he unbuckles his seat belt and approaches him with a syringe in his hand. Danny feels a sharp pain, followed by an annoying and hot sensation running through his left arm. A few seconds later, his eyelids close and everything turns black again.


	7. A bitter pill

**Chapter 6: A bitter pill.**

Steve lets the anger out of him, while questions Sanders, who looks at him impassively, handcuffed to the chair in the interrogation room. Grover is interrogating his partner in the other room. From what he has seen so far, Sanders will be difficult to convince, probably because he's the one who has the most to lose.

Ten minutes after an unsuccessful effort, he leaves the room and, after closing the door, sits on the floor of the hallway, allowing a huge feeling of frustration to take hold of him. Two minutes later, Lou goes out with a very similar expression y his eyes, sitting in the floor next to Steve.

Seeing that the SEAL is about to lose his temper, Lou says, "Stay focused, Steve. Danny's life depends on this."

Steve looks incredulous at Lou, yelling, "And do you think I don't know that? I didn't think of anything else while this guy just made fun of me," he pauses, trying to calm down, "I'm sorry, man ... It's just that I can't help a lot of images block my mind. Every minute that goes by, Danny's situation is getting worse. We're wasting our time, Lou, I'm not going to spend a minute more; I don't care about the proper police procedure anymore ... Anyway, these useless guys are dead. As soon as the man on the phone finds out we have them, his life won't be worth a dime ..."

Steve stands up, his gaze changes and acquires that expression that makes Lou's skin go up, that expression tells him that Steve will use all the tools at his reach;  _special skills_  acquired during his time with the SEALs and that the Captain can only imagine.

He doesn't like to think about that, he prefers to see the man he knows. The good cop, worried about helping people, because the soldier who has defended his Nation countless times, also has his dark side. Lou doesn't doubt the man he admires and respects, the friend he loves, has had to use those special skills more than once, during his military life. He has no doubt it has always been to defend the greater good, but he definitely knows he wouldn't like to be in that guy's shoes right now, Steve can be ruthless.

Silently, he looks at Steve as he walks to the supply closet and takes a metal bucket, a piece of cloth and a car battery, saying, "Maybe Sanders thinks he can't break, but his partner is something else ... Let's change, you go with Sanders while I interrogate the boy ... "

"James Tadeusz ..." Lou says, "The boy's name is James Tadeusz."

"Fine!... Give me ten minutes with him and I'll see you out here, okay?" Steve says, as he fills the bucket with water and looks at Lou, who gets into the room where Sanders waits.

Takes a couple of deep breaths, God! He hates doing this, but at this moment he blesses his training, because, in addition to teaching him to resist torture, he was also taught to inflict it, whenever it's necessary. Slowly, activates the lock of the interrogation room and gets in.

Jimmy looks at him surprised, hoping maybe to see Lou again. Steve walks to the center of the room, stopping three or four feet from the boy and placing the bucket with water on the floor, along with the battery. The guy observes the objects fearfully and then looks at the Commander.

Steve looks really intimidating, his frozen expression, devoid of emotion and the muscles of his arms tensing like steel cables. Finally, as he approaches and opens the boy's shirt with a pull, making the buttons jump in all directions, Steve speaks hoarsely, "You'll see, Jimmy, I'm sure you understand that my time is running out and I won't leave you alone until I get what I want. Do you know who I am? " He asks. The boy nods silently.

"And surely you know I'm a SEAL", without waiting for the guy to answer, he continues speaking, "we, the SEALs are strange men, Jimmy. We have received the best and most specialized military training in the world; everyone knows we are the best ... Let me tell you the most useful thing I learned during my time at BUDs is to ignore the pain ... Do you know how to do that, Jimmy? "

Takes the bucket and throw its contents over the guy's head, soaking him, while he says, "Most of the recruits retire during the hell week ... the pain is unbearable ... but the hardest thing to overcome is the fear of pain. You see, when I joined the SEAL program, we were four hundred recruits ... After the hell week, we were only thirty-five guys ..."

Silently, he takes a couple of wires, which are connected to the battery, and approaches until his face is only four inches from Tadeusz's terrified gaze. "Last chance, Jimmy. Who ordered Detective Williams kidnapping? "

The guy shakes his head and tears begin to flow from his eyes, "I can't ... he'll kill me".

"Who's going to kill you, Jimmy? Sanders? Don't worry, the man is in more trouble than you at this moment. Give me a name Jimmy ..." Steve says.

"Gordon ..." the boy mutters.

"Who is he?" Steve pulls the wires away from the boy's bare chest, just a little bit.

"CIA ..." Tadeusz responds, his voice choked with fear. Steve shakes his head, bewildered and asks, "Gordon? Scott Gordon?" Jimmy nods in silence.

Trying to recompose his attitude, Steve says, "Good, Jimmy. It's not so hard, isn't it? ... Now, where's Detective Williams?"

"I don't know ..." Jimmy answers, but then a terrified scream comes out of his throat as Steve pulls the cables closer. "I swear to you, man! We were watching you and when you and your mother left, your partner got into his car and we followed him. Sanders had everything set... he had already called someone ... When we reached the agreed place, they appeared and blocked his way... They pointed their guns at him and put him in a truck... I don't know anything else ..."

"Where did they take him?" Steve looks at him, threatening.

Tears flow abundantly down the face of the guy, who answers quickly, "I swear I don't know ... you'll have to talk to Sanders... Come on, man!, I'm just a pawn, nobody tells me anything. I've told you everything I know ..." Steve nods and goes to the exit, the guy's sobs echo in the room when the door closes.

Lou looks at him expectantly, "What happened? Did he say something?"

Steve nods, rubbing his forehead with his right hand, trying to ward off the headache that builds up behind his eyes; He replies after a few seconds, "Scott Gordon ... The CIA leak." Noticing his partner's questioning look, he explains, "Scott Gordon, Deputy Director for Military Operations of the CIA."

"Do you know him?"

Steve nods, sighing "We served together in some missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, He was in intelligence and I was with the SEALs. He is a son of a bitch! He always complained about how little he received in exchange for how much he risked ..."

Steve shakes his head, "Something is missing, Lou ... Gordon must be working for someone else. Outside the Agency, Gordon doesn't have the resources or the brain to plan such an operation. Someone must pay him ... The guy who called me, it's him who really has Danny ... We have to find out who he is ... If we find him, we'll find Danny ... Did you get anything from Sanders?"

"Sorry man ..." Lou apologizes, "the man just looked at me and smiled. He had the nerve to ask for a lawyer."

Steve patts his friend's back and says "Don't worry ... We're just in the third inning ... Come with me." They both go back into the room where Sanders is. When he sees them, the man yawns bored and asks, "Where is my lawyer? ... I have the right to have one ... "

Steve stops in front of him, arms crossed over his chest. "You see ... We know when HPD interrogates you and you ask for a lawyer, they have an obligation to provide one ... But it doesn't work that way with Five-0, I'm afraid. I'm sure you did your homework and you know I don't give a shit about police procedures ... My partner always scolds me for that. "

After walking around the room, under Lou's watchful eye, Steve says, "I guess you know that the first to speak is the only one who gets a deal ... Pity for you, because Jimmy has already told us a couple of very interesting things. We know Scott Gordon is behind all this ... But there's still something that disturbs me."

Sanders speaks at last, trying to keep the nervousness in his voice, "What is it?"

"Oh, come on! You know the guy ... You know he can't add two plus two ... Someone is paying him for the information and I'm sure you know who ... " After a calculated pause, Steve asks, "Who ordered Detective Williams kidnapping? "

Sanders looks at him and Steve can guess the fear emanating from his blue eyes, "What do I get out of all this? If I tell you I'm a dead man ..."

Steve smiles sarcastically and says, "And if you don't, you're dead too ... Because I'll make sure Gordon knows you were the one who gave him away ... We'll get Jimmy out of this and give him police protection."

"Wait ... You can't do this." Lou sketches a smile full of admiration for Steve's interrogation techniques. Sanders begs, "I want a deal!"

Steve shakes his head and says, "You will go to prison and that is not negotiable, but if you tell me where Detective Williams is and who ordered his kidnapping, I may be able to do something for you ..."

Sanders shouts, "I want you to lock me up! Put me in a maximum security cell, where Gordon or the other guy's men can not reach me ... Protect me and I'll tell you everything I know ..."

Steve agrees in silence and Sanders says, "I don't know his name ... I only know him as 'Hades' He leads a criminal organization in the Mediterranean; his huge organization does everything ... Weapon traffic, drugs, prostitution networks, everything ... I have the phone number of the men he sent to kidnap your partner ... "

Steve takes out the phone that they took from Sanders during the arrest, and starts checking the calls. Two of them get his attention: the first, an incoming call from an international number, probably a satellite phone. The second is a call to a local cell phone number. Silently, he shows the screen to Sanders who points to the second number and nods silently. Steve looks up and turns his head to Lou, giving the phone to him and muttering, "Ask Jerry to track this number." The captain leaves the room.

Sanders says, "You better hurry up, Commander. Your partner is in very serious problems. I would bet my life he's no longer on the Island ... " Steve looks at him scornfully and says, "Be careful what you ask, because someone could grant it ... And if you're going to bet, bet something worthwhile, because, as you said before, your life is not worth a penny." He turns around and leaves the room, leaving Sanders speechless.

Walks down the hall when the elevator door opens and Tani comes out of it, Clara comes with her. Steve stops for a minute, trying to calm down. He doesn't know what to say to Danny's mother. Tani looks at him in a silent apology, "Clara and Grace arrived a moment ago ... Gracie is waiting for you in your office. We didn't want to tell her anything until you talked to her, but ... Clara insisted on talking to you ... "

Clara interrupts Tani and says, "Please, Steve. I know something is wrong with Danny. He's not answering his phone ... I understand you don't want to tell Grace, but I ... need to know. Try to understand, Steve. He is my boy".

Steve nods and says, "Clara ... the truth is we don't know where Danny is ..."

She begins to sob softly, saying "Oh My God! I can't do this anymore! ... This is too much. First Ed and now Danny! "

Steve comes close to her and wraps her in a tight hug, "I'll find him, Clara! I swear I'll bring Danny home or I'll die trying, all right? ... For now I need you to go home with Rachel and stay with Grace and Charlie ..." Steve looks at Tani and after a brief pause says, "Tani, Call Duke and tell him to put surveillance on Rachel's house. " The rookie nods and goes back to the elevator.

Noticing the restlessness in her eyes, he says "Listen, Clara ... We have two guys in custody and they have given us some clues about Danny ..." Steve knows this is a half truth but it's necessary for her to calm down, "I have to follow these clues. Police protection is just a precaution ... I don't want to take any risk... A police officer will take you and Gracie home, okay?"

She nods between sobs, hugs Steve again and begs, "Bring my boy home, Steve. He trusts you ... Please do everything you can to get him back safely!" Steve fondly caresses her back and whispers. "I'll do it… I promise!"

After the crying has subsided and Clara breathes more easily, Steve puts an arm around her shoulders and they both get into the elevator. A few minutes later, Steve opens the glass doors and enters the headquarters, finding Pua in front of the smart table. He makes a sign to Tani to take care of Clara while Steve tells the officer, "Pua, I need a favor, buddy."

The good officer answers, "Whatever you need, Commander ..."

"I need you to take Gracie and Danny's mother to Rachel's house ... and please take care of them, Pua ... Don't leave them until we've solved all this mess, okay?"

"Yes, sir ... I will."

Steve starts walking towards his office. Now he will have to take the bitter pill. This is a hundred times more difficult than dealing with criminals. A Dejà vu comes to his mind. Gracie sitting on the garden swing ... he walks towards her and they both sit on the bench, looking at freshly cut green grass. He knows today he'll have to make a promise similar to the one he made that afternoon. A promise he wished he didn't have to do anymore ...

When he opens the glass door of his office, Grace gets up quickly. He can see his eyes red and swollen from crying, with a hoarse voice he says, "Gracie!"

She throws herself into his arms, crying inconsolably. He hugs her tenderly, gently stroking her hair and giving her a kiss on the head. Suddenly, she looks at him and asks, "What happened to Danno, Uncle Steve?"


	8. Kill two birds with one stone

**Chapter 7: Kill two birds with one stone**

_She throws herself into his arms, crying inconsolably. He hugs her tenderly, gently stroking her hair and giving her a kiss on the head. Suddenly, she looks at him and asks, "What happened to Danno, Uncle Steve?"_

Steve remains silent for a moment, not knowing what to answer; finally, he decides on a half-truth, "Gracie ... Someone took Danno ..."

She opens her eyes even more, showing her fear and asking, "Why, Uncle Steve? Danno is a good man, why bad guys always want to hurt him?"

Steve sighs and says honestly, "I don't know Gracie ... But I swear I'll look for him and bring him back, kiddo!" She draws a sad smile and says, "Danno is lucky!" He frowns without knowing what she means, but she explains, "I know the job you do is dangerous, all the cops do a risky job... but they don't have you to take care of them ..." Grace raises her head, looking directly into Steve's eyes, "You know? The worst moments I can remember are the times Danno has been hurt. All those times, all what I needed to overcome the fear, was your presence, your hug. You have always been there to tell me he would be fine ... and you have always kept your promise ... That's why I know that now it won't be different and you'll bring Danno home..."

Steve kisses Gracie's forehead; He's afraid of the faith and the trust of the girl. Gracie and Charlie think that, somehow, Steve is a superhero who can do anything. Sometimes, he wishes that's true.

Suddenly an unpleasant sensation invades his heart, what if he's not able to fulfill this promise? Tries to push away those thoughts and says, "I promise I'll do whatever it takes to get him back safely, Gracie."

* * *

Clara and Grace have left with Pua a couple of minutes ago, when Steve leaves his office and runs to the bathroom, blocking the door. Unable to contain his anguish, he leans his back against the wall and slowly slides down to sit on the cold white tile floor. The sobs drown in his throat and tears come from his eyes ... Grace's visit has affected him more than he thought ... he feels a huge weight on his shoulders. He needs to find Danny ... for Gracie, for Charlie... for himself.

After a few minutes, in which he allows the dam of his emotions to break, his breathing normalizes and the pounding of his heart inside his chest slows down. Slowly, he stands up and goes to the sink, opening the tap and soaking his face and neck. He looks at the man in the mirror and makes  silent promise: He'll come back with Danny ... or he won't come back.

Opens the door and goes out into the hall, where Lou waits for him with a look of empathy. Unexpectedly, the captain approaches and hugs him tightly, saying, "We'll bring him back, Steve. He's going to be fine."

After giving a few pats on the huge back of his friend, Steve moves away a little and says with a determination that, a couple of minutes ago, would have thought impossible, "You can bet, Lou ... I have an idea … Come with me".

Both return to the smart table, to meet Tani and Jerry who look at him, desperate to take action. Tani asks, "What will we do now?"

Steve looks at Jerry and says, "Jerry, Tadeusz said two men driving a truck had taken Danny ... Can you check the traffic cameras to see if you can locate the truck?"

Jerry begins to work, two minutes later, the video from the traffic camera shows on the screen, the moment when a black SUV obstructs the Camaro's way and two men leave quickly, pointing at Danny with their guns. One of them approaches and injects the contents of a syringe into the detective's neck, who faints a few seconds later. Both men pick him up and put him in the backseat of the SUV, which runs at full speed towards Ala Moana Boulevard .

After watching the video, everyone remains silent for a moment. Steve walks around like a caged lion, until he stops, looks at Lou and says, "Sanders says he doesn't know the real name of Hades ... Maybe there's only one person who can tell us who he is ... Scott Gordon..." Looks at the time on his watch and says, "I must go to Langley! "

"Hey! ... Wait a minute, would you?" Lou tries to dissuade his friend, but the look Steve gives him is loaded with anger and decision. "It's the only way, Lou ... Listen ..." he says, looking alternately at Jerry, Lou and Tani, "We can't tell anyone what we know. The truth is we don't know who we can trust and I won't risk Danny's life, because some corrupt agent finds out about our plans." He makes a pause and continues, "Jerry, please check the video of all those traffic cameras, to see if you can reconstruct the movements of that SUV, since the moment they took Danny ... " Then, looks at the captain and says," Lou, don't let Sanders or Tadeusz leave the interrogation room. Bring them something to eat and a blanket so they can sleep a bit ... I don't give a shit if we have to face some lawyer after this, alleging police brutality. These men don't leave here, until Danny is back, is that clear? "

The captain nods silently and Tani asks, "What about me?"

"You come with me ..." Steve answers, as he enters his office, while Tani follows him and looks at him with fascination, standing by the door. Steve takes his backpack and begins to put in enough spare ammunition, a pair of Kevlar vests, night vision goggles and fake passports. Then, he turns on the satellite phone, sits down in the chair in front of his desk and dials a number.

While waiting to be answered, he looks at Tani and says simply, "Get ready ..." She goes to her own office and begins to pack her tactical equipment. Ten minutes later, Steve leaves his office and meets with the others next to the smart table.

He hands Lou a satellite phone and, pointing to the one in his hand, says, "Use this phone only, this is a 100% safe line ..." Lou and Jerry nod silently, while Steve says looking at Tani, "I called Commander Wade Hutches and I got a couple of favors. There's a plane to Washington departing in an hour to take a group of SEALs. Unofficially, we'll go in that plane... Remember guys, we can't say anything about the location of any of us ... to anyone. "

* * *

This is one of the longest nights of his life, uncertainty makes the flight seem slower. Tani sleeps at his side, leaning her head on Steve's shoulder. He stays awake with a lost look. One of the SEALs gives him a bottle of water, which he accepts with a smile.

After a while, he looks at his watch and begins to make a quick calculation in his head. Doris and Junior must land at Brussels International Airport in three or four hours. Steve checks the satellite phone's battery, making a mental reminder to recharge it at the first opportunity. His mind makes endless useless plans. His arrival at Langley must go unnoticed, or he will lose the opportunity to face Gordon ... he's sure that, if the man knows Steve is coming to look for him, the coward would soon disappear ... An hour later, he decides to sleep for a while. He will need a lucid mind and a strong body to interrogate Gordon about Hades identity and Danny's location.

* * *

Steve wakes up with a strong shaking; he quickly identifies the sudden impact of the landing gear when making contact with the ground. His watch indicates 06:10 am. Gently, he places his hand on Tani's shoulder and shakes it softly, to awaken her. She opens her eyes and looks around, stunned by sleep. Her gaze meets Steve's, who smiles at her, saying, "Good morning ... we've arrived."

In a few minutes they are on the landing strip and, after thanking Commander Hutches, they both walk towards the exit. They board a taxi which leaves them, forty minutes later, in front of a small coffee shop on Dolley Madison Blvd. Upon entering, they go to a table located on the corner. The place is almost empty, except for two customers ordering coffee to go. The waitress approaches and Steve asks for two coffees and a glass of orange juice, then looks at Tani, who orders toast and jam.

Shortly after, while both drink their coffee, Tani says, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Not knowing what to expect, Steve nods silently. She asks, "What did Grace tell you?"

"She wanted me to promise I would bring Danny back home ..." Steve says with a sad tone.

Tani says, "She trusts you ... That's weird in teenagers."

Steve smiles when he remembers, "I've known her since she was a little girl and we got along immediately. She calls me 'Uncle Steve' ... They are my family, Tani and I would do anything to protect them."

She smiles and says, "It's a great friendship, the one you two have, you're brothers of another mother, aren't you? I've never seen anything like that before. You argue all the time, provoke each other all the time by anything and, nevertheless, it seems to work for you. You two implicitly trust one in the other; In addition to being colleagues at work, you're opening a restaurant together! and that love between you has extended to all your family members... " Tani sighs and finally says, "I think I envy you! "

Steve takes Tani's hand and says, as he remembers the words he told Kono, eight years ago, "Now you're part of this family too, Tani. We're all  _Ohana_ , and we will always do whatever it takes to protect you." A nostalgic twinge comes to his voice, when he thinks of the team members who have left to build a new life elsewhere, in a low voice he says, "No matter how far apart we are, we will always be together."

After the frugal breakfast, Tani asks, "So, what will we do?" Steve checks the time on his watch and answers, "I want to see Director Bennett and explain the situation to him personally. Then we'll go see Gordon and we won't leave until we get some answers ... Okay, let's go. Bennett is a man with an inflexible routine, he always arrives at his office at 08:30 a.m."

* * *

Exactly at 8:30, Steve and Tani approach the access control post of the CIA headquarters. Steve shows his military ID and his badge, saying, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, I'm here to see Director Bennett."

The security guard checks a long list attached to a wooden board and asks, surprised. "Your name is not on the list, Commander. Do you have an appointment scheduled with him? "

Steve shakes his head and says in a tone that conveys a certainty he's far from feeling, "No ... but it's a very urgent classified issue. Ask him, I'm sure the Director will talk to me, but no one else should know that I'm here."

The security guard picks up the phone and presses a couple of keys; After some unintelligible murmurs, he looks at Steve and says, without hiding his surprise, "Director Bennett will see you immediately." After writing their names on a form, he gives them a pair of identity badges and says, "Well ... you can come in. Do you know the way? "

Steve smiles and says, "Yes, thank you. I've been here many times before." Trying to avoid getting attention, Steve and Tani walk to the Director's office. Upon arrival, an attractive blonde woman greets them, asking, "Commander McGarrett?"

Steve nods silently, and she says as she gets up, "Director Bennett is waiting for you, please come in," the woman walks to a door and opens it, letting them get in.

Bennett is standing next to his desk. Unable to hide his surprise he says, "Commander McGarrett! I thought you were on your way to Ghent ..." Steve shakes the man's hand, while introducing Tani, "She's Officer Tani Rey, from Five-0 " Bennett points to the chairs and Steve and Tani sit with their backs towards the door. The Director asks, "I'm sorry Commander, I don't understand ... Why are you here?"

While Steve tells him what happened, beginning with Danny's kidnapping, Hades' phone call and the arrest of Sanders and Tadeusz, Bennett's face changes progressively in color and his expression is that of a frightened man.

After explaining in detail everything that happened, Steve says, "That's why I had to change the plans," noting the bewilderment in the man's eyes, he says, "The agreement still stands. Doris is on her way to Ghent to retrieve the evidence ... But I'm going to need your help."

Bennett looks at him silently and nods, "How can I help you, Commander?"

Steve looks at him incredulously and says, "Don't play with me, Director. Gordon is your man ... He has been selling information to the highest bidder, partnering with leaders of criminal organizations around the world and risking the lives of your undercover agents, and he has been doing this for years! Now, one of those leaders knows his operation is in danger if that evidence is made public and he wants to avoid it at all costs. That's why he kidnapped my partner. And I won't rest until he is released, unharmed." He makes a brief pause, and ends "Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. I need to talk to Scott Gordon. I need him to tell me who's Hades, So we rescue Detective Williams and protect all your undercover agents from further betrayal. "

Bennett stands up and nervously walks through the office. He had already been told McGarrett is a highly efficient law enforcement officer, even with his unorthodox methods. The SEAL knows the game and knows how to play it. His service record with the Navy is impeccable and everyone who knows him says he's the best ... Having him as an ally would be a thousand times better than having him as an enemy.

He is also furious. That Gordon traitor! How could he be so naive and trust that guy? If things get nasty and CIA operations in several parts of the world are ruined by Gordon's betrayal, the President will flay him alive. After looking at his watch, he raises his head and looks at Steve for a few seconds. Then, he picks up the phone to talk to his assistant, "Tell Scott Gordon to come to my office, right now!"

Ten minutes later, they hear a couple of knocks on the door, which opens a few seconds later. The blond assistant lets Gordon in and closes the door behind him. Noticing there are two people sitting in front of Bennett's desk, he stops by the door and asks, "Did you want to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Scott," Bennett replies, while Steve stands up and turns around to face Gordon. The man's eyes open wide when he recognizes Steve. Bennett says, "You probably know Commander McGarrett."


	9. Risky Bet

**Chapter 8: Risky Bet**

_"Yes, Scott," Bennett replies, while Steve stands up and turns around to face Gordon. The man's eyes open wide when he recognizes Steve. Bennett says, "You probably know Commander McGarrett."_

The man is speechless, while Steve looks at him with contempt, walks a couple of steps, pointing the chair for Gordon to sit down, but he remains standing there, motionless. Without thinking twice, Steve grabs his arm roughly and forces him to sit down.

"I'm going to give you a free advise, you better sit down ..." he says, getting angrier, "we will be here for a long time, until you tell us what we want to know".

Gordon shakes his head and says, "I don't know what you're talking about, Steve."

"For you, I'm Commander McGarrett ...!" Steve says furiously. "I really don't have the time for your games... and before you say anything and try to deny this, I have to tell you something about your men in Hawaii... They sang like little birds, and told us everything... I must tell you I can be very persuasive. We know about your association with some criminal organizations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East; we know you have betrayed many undercover agents who trusted you, and you sent them to death! We know about Hades, and know he ordered Detective Williams kidnapping ... and I'm sure you know where those guys took him."

The man is terrified ... How did everything go to hell so fast? Hades is going to kill him! ... Nervously, he begins to sweat copiously and closes his eyes trying to calm down. Now it's over. This is not about saving the operation, but about surviving. He opens his eyes again and mutters, "How did you know about Hades?"

"Sanders and Tadeusz told us everything in exchange for protection ... You see, the fear of dying can be a good incentive." Steve knows it's just a matter of time and patience for Gordon to break. "It's time for you try to save what you can, Scott. Do you really think Hades cares what happens to you? At this moment you are more valuable dead instead of alive ..." When Steve sees Gordon is looking at his feet, he yells at the terrified man, "Look at me! You know me and you know I'm going to find out who he is, sooner or later, but if you don't cooperate, I'll make sure Hades finds you and I guarantee you won't like what he has prepared for you."

Gordon sighs resigned, his life is worth nothing now. No matter where he can hide or the protection the Agency can give him, once he tells everything about his contacts, Hades will find him... he's aware that all he can do now is try to protect his family. "You don't know where you're getting into ..." he mumbles.

Steve laughs scornfully and says, "I don't care if I fuck with the devil! ... Where's Detective Williams?"

Without raising his voice, Gordon says, "He's going to kill me ... I have no doubt about that, but my family ..."

"We can protect them, but we'll do it only if you cooperate with us ... Who is he?"

Finally, Gordon gives up and says, "David Kanakaredes ..."

Steve immediately recognizes the name; he gets up, looks at Tani and Bennett and says, "I'll be back in a minute ..." He leaves the office and walks down the hall, when he is sure he's alone, grabs the satellite phone and presses a button, Lou answers immediately .

"Steve ..."

"Lou, we have a name. Tell Jerry to find out everything he can about David Kanakaredes. The man is the leader of an arms and drug trafficking organization in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa ... I'll call you later ... "

Lou answers, "Okay, we're on that."

A few seconds later, he returns to the office, walks and stops in front of Gordon who looks at him pleading, saying, "your partner can be anywhere ... Kanakaredes has facilities for his business everywhere."

"You can do it better, Scott. Think!" Steve raises his voice, "there must be somewhere where he thinks we won't look ..."

Gordon speculates, "Probably on Milos Island ... When we first investigated him, we knew he has a place there, he calls it his sanctuary. He has never done business in that place, it's his home, his family lives there. I don't know where it is, but if you let me, I can find out ... "

Steve smiles and says in a sarcastic tone, "Sure, I'll give you some time so you find him and tell him everything we know and we're going to look for him? Thank you, but I'll find that place by myself ... " Then he looks at Bennett and says," Director, this is your man, I guess you want to lock him up for conspiracy to commit murder and for espionage and treason. My advise is don't let him talk to anyone, if you don't want the operation to be ruined." Bennett shakes Steve's hand, and sighs impressed. Steve says goodbye, "I'll call you when we have the evidence in a safe place ..."

Ten minutes later, Steve and Tani give their identity badges to the security guard at the access control post. Suspicious, looks around. He knows it's unlikely anyone would have had an opportunity to know about his arrival at Langley, but he wants to be sure. They get into a taxi soon after, while they decide where to go. They need a place to think and plan their next movements.

Suddenly, he remembers a small hotel near Marymount University, where he stayed the last time he visited the agency in an unofficial way; He gives the address to the driver and the taxi immediately goes there.

* * *

The gloom surrounds him when he opens his eyes, dazed. A severe headache and a general feeling of discomfort avoid him from thinking clearly. He's surprised not to be bound, but he feels dizzy and confused. Steve's voice comes to his mind, clear, confident: "The first thing, Danno, is to breathe calmly. Slow inspirations, inhale for four seconds, and exhale for four more, until the control returns. Then try to locate something you can use as a point of reference ... " As if he were following the steps of an instruction manual, takes a couple of deep breaths and looks around. His eyes begin to get used to the darkness, when he tilts up the head and looks at a narrow embrasure, located about eight or ten feet high on a stone wall to his right.

He's lying on a dirty and rough straw mat, the acrid smell causes him a wave of nausea. Slowly, testing his strength, he sits down and leans his back on the cold wall. Feels a burning in the skin of the neck and a bit of dry, sticky blood; Raises his right hand and feels the skin, noticing a swollen area, but after checking his general condition, he realizes, with relief, that nothing else is hurt.

Cursing himself for thinking too quickly, he hears the strong echo of footsteps approaching. Shortly after, a door, about ten feet away, opens with the unmistakable sound of rusty hinges. The room is illuminated by the light coming from the corridor and a thin man gets into the room, approaching him and saying, "Good! You're awake, detective. Excuse me for not having been a good host, and since we don't know how long you will honor us with your presence, I have decided to make your stay more comfortable."

Danny studies the man. The wavy hair falls over his shoulders, framing a thin, angular face. A thick black beard covers his chin and jaw, joining a thick mustache that highlights a prominent aquiline nose. He's dressed completely in white, linen pants and a loose shirt, accentuating his thinness.

At that moment, a woman of small stature, wrapped in a cloak covering her head and face, enters the room, carrying a tray with a jug and a metal glass, a loaf of bread and a bit of cheese. She puts the tray on the floor, within Danny's reach, tilts her head down and leaves quickly.

Danny asks, "Who are you and why am I here?"

The man sketches a half smile and replies, "You can call me Hades ... You're here because you're my life insurance policy." He pauses, only increasing Danny's unease and then continues, "You'll see, Detective. It is a simple exchange. If he gives me what I need, you will return to Hawaii in one piece ... otherwise I can't guarantee that your stay in my beautiful island will be pleasant ... "

"Who is he? Who are you talking about? "

"Your friend McGarrett ... Let's say his mother has become a major threat to my business and your friend will do whatever it takes to neutralize that threat for me ... Now, I suggest you to eat and drink something. The mixture we have injected into your bloodstream will make you feel weak and dizzy if you don't do so." Without saying another word, the man turns around and leaves the room. The door closes with a loud blow which reverberates in the room and in Danny's aching head.

* * *

Steve comes to the reception in the tiny hotel and asks for a room. Ten minutes later, Tani drops herself on one of the beds, saying, "Well! ... That was very educational!"

The satellite phone rings, and Steve looks at the screen, answering immediately. "Hello…"

"Steve?" Catherine's voice sounds loud and clear.

"Cath ..." he answers anxiously.

"I just wanted to tell you Doris and Junior landed an hour ago, and now we're on our way to get the evidence. Doris has several theories of its location, so we'll start tracking one by one. Do you know anything about Danny?"

He sighs and replies, "I'm not quite sure where he is, but at least we know who kidnapped him ... Have you ever heard something about David Kanakaredes?"

She answers, with surprise, "Of course! ... He has an important arms trafficking business in the Middle East and Africa. How did you know he is involved? "

"We've found the agent responsible for the leakage of information at the CIA. And he told us everything ..." At that moment the ringtone of another incoming call is heard on the phone and Steve says, "Listen Cath, I'm getting another call, it's probably Lou with information for me. Call me if you need anything or to tell me how things are going, okay? "

"Okay, I'll call you later ..."

"Thanks Cath ..."

Steve presses a button on the phone and answers "Lou ... What do you have?"

The captain replies, "There's a lot of information about Kanakaredes. The man has operated with impunity for more than ten years ... "

Steve interrupts him ... "That explains his relationship with Yao Fat ... ".

"Yes, but finding Danny will be like finding a needle in a haystack. We've found more than fifty locations, distributed throughout southern Europe, Turkey and North Africa."

"Do you have any location on the island of Milos, in Greece?"

There is a pause, and a couple of minutes later, Steve hears Jerry's voice, "Yes, there are two locations. One of them is a house in the small town of Zefiria. The other location is a four building compound on the west coast of the island, which belongs to his wife's family."

Steve interrupts saying, "That must be the right one! ... Gordon mentioned that Kanakaredes called it his sanctuary, so there was never any operation to be carried out in that place and it was never under investigation, because it wasn't registered in his name. Danny must be there! ... Jerry, we need all the information you can get from that place, find all the satellite images, I need to know who enters and leaves that place and see if you can confirm if Kanakaredes is there."

Lou asks, "How can you be so sure Danny is there? He could be in any of the other locations too. " Steve replies, "I'm aware it's a risky bet, Lou. But if my intuition is not wrong, Kanakaredes will want to keep an eye on Danny all the time. I don't think he trusts anyone else with such a delicate issue ... especially with everything he can lose if something goes wrong."


	10. Easier said than done

**Chapter 9: Easier said than done**

Ghent, Belgium.

After the thirty-minute journey between Brussels International Airport and the medieval city of Ghent, at the convergence of the River Lys and Scheldt, Catherine parks the rental car in one of the streets near the Gravensteen, a big castle which, in 12th century, was the residence of the Counts of Flanders.

Junior gets out of the car staring in amazement at the beautiful city, dividing his attention between the bustling rhythm of the waves of students and the impressive architecture. Junior had never been to Europe before, but he thinks this is a good city to start falling in love with the old continent.

Catherine smiles and takes him by the arm to force Junior to follow Doris, who walks away quickly, towards the bridge that crosses the River Lys. None of them notices a bald man, wearing a black trench coat, who follows them at a distance.

A few minutes later they arrive at a small pub; the atmosphere is dim, illuminated by the light of tiny lamps placed on the small tables, spread out in front of a beautiful oak bar.

Behind the bar, a sixty-year-old bartender, with his hair turned upside down and his gray beard falling untidily on his chest. The man serves a couple of huge glass jars with a dark and frothy beer.

Upon hearing the tinkle of the little bell that hits the opening door, the man looks up and smiles when he recognizes Doris, who emits a loud laugh and extends her arms saying, "Oleg ... my dear friend!" The man walks towards one end of the bar and wraps Doris in a tight hug, greeting her in English splashed with incomprehensible words in a language that Junior thinks sounds as French, "My dear Doris! It's a pleasure to see you, as always."

After getting away a little, Doris points to her two companions and says, "Oleg ... These are Catherine and Junior. Both shake the old man's hand affectionately. Oleg says, as he kisses Catherine's hand, who blushes instantly, " _Enchanted! C'est toujours a plaisir de rencontrer une belle dame ..._ " He pauses briefly, and his face darkens, as he tells Doris, "The last time I saw you, your company was a little different ..."

She nods, with a sad look and sits on one of the tall chairs that line up in front of the bar. Junior and Catherine sit on either side of her and Oleg returns to his usual place, saying, "I guess your visit has something to do with that, isn't it?"

Doris's expression changes with a slight touch of astonishment and she asks, "You know?"

The man nods and leans down to take a small yellow envelope from behind the bar, "He told me you would come."

"When, Oleg?"

"He came a couple of weeks ago, he looked sad and dull. He looked constantly around him, as if he feared someone was stalking him ... He gave me this for you, and told me I should give it to you and only you." The man extends his hand and gives Doris the envelope, while asking," He is dead, isn't he?" She nods silent.

Sighing, Oleg serves four jars of beer and places them on the bar in front of his three visitors, saying, " _La maison invite_  ... Let's drink for our mutual friend." The four collide their glasses and drink the warm and thick beverage. At that moment, the bell tinkle again and the bald man enters, sitting at a table in the corner, where he can observe discreetly.

Oleg apologizes and moves away towards the newcomer, who orders a beer in English. Catherine can't help the strong accent of the man from drawing her attention, and looks at the visitor furtively for a few seconds, then goes back to listening to Doris, who is talking to Junior in a very low voice. The SEAL asks, "What relationship did Yao have with Ghent?"

Doris smiles wistfully and answers, "He loved Ghent ... It brought back pleasant memories to him. The first time he visited Europe with his wife, she fell in love with the city, and they came together a few times before ... " she pauses, not wanting to talk about the death of Wo Fat's mother and everything that happened after that, however she says, "Last year we came together and he introduced me to Oleg. We get along right away ... we've seen each other a couple of times since then." She stops for a moment and sighs deeply, "It's a great irony that his days are over here ..."

Catherine looks at the envelope which rotates between Doris's nervous fingers and asks, "What's in the envelope?"

Doris opens it and pulls out a small white plastic card, the size of a credit card. On one side, an unmistakable logo is printed with a complicated red 'M' on one end, and the number 305 on the center. On the other side, a dark band runs across the card from side to side. Doris looks if there is anything else inside the envelope. Junior looks at the card and asks, "What is that?"

Catherine gives it a couple of turns and answers, while she gives the card back to Doris, who keeps it in the pocket of her jeans, "It's the key to a hotel room ..."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, after saying goodbye to Oleg with the firm promise to return, the three leave the pub and begin to walk on the sidewalk, crossing the river again by the Grasburg Bridge, begin to walk south with a slow rhythm and leisurely, trying to mix with tourists. A couple of yards later, they pass by a bus whose black and shiny windows reflects all the sidewalk. Absentmindedly, Catherine looks to the left and then sees it in the reflection: Ten or twelve yards behind them, the bald man in the black trench coat walks down the same sidewalk, his eyes fixed on Doris.

Catherine takes Doris by the hand and beckons to Junior, who, without needing words, understands that something is wrong. Without asking questions, they stop in front of the shop window of a bakery, pretending to see the great variety of candies, chocolates and cakes that are exhibited, until Catherine sees the reflection of the man passing behind them, he keeps walking. Once he has gone far enough, the guy leans forward to tie the laces of his sneakers, Cath says softly, as he notices the guy furtively looks at them, "That man was in the pub ..."

The three exchange a glance and, taking advantage of the brief moment of distraction of their stalker, Junior separates from them turning left in an alley and begins to run, surrounding the building of the bakery. Catherine and Doris, remain looking at the shop window. The man takes out his cell phone and pretends to look for something, without losing sight of them.

Suddenly, the guy seems to realize that the man who was with the two women is nowhere to be found. Forgetting discretion, he begins to look around, until he realizes, very late, that Junior is standing next to him, pressing the barrel of his gun against his back and saying in a very low voice, "Shhh. Take your hands out of your pockets slowly and walk ... Easy! This gun goes off on its own. " The guy starts walking in front of Junior, both spinning back into the alley, where they meet Catherine and Doris.

* * *

Danny opens his eyes, confused. The feeling of dizziness and nausea is more intense than before ... and the back of his neck hurts much more. Tries to sit down, but his hands and legs are numb. "Damn it!" He thinks, as he realizes that bastard has drugged him again. He has no idea of the date or time, he doesn't know how much time has passed since he spoke with Hades.

Tears of fury escape from his eyes, while a wave of images invades his mind. Thinks of his children ... if he closes his eyes, he's sure he can hear their laughter as they play in the waves ... He allows himself to let memories take over his anguished heart. Grace kidnapped by Rick Peterson; the carjacking , the threat of Tsunami and the gunman in the Aloha Girls camp ...oh! and the winter formal.

All the times his daughter has been in danger and he has been able to save her ... Suddenly, the fear ... an awful fear grips his throat ... What if he can't be there anymore ... to prevent something bad from happening to Grace or Charlie?

A voice pierces his brain ... "I'm here, Danno ... Don't worry, we'll get out of this, buddy!" He knows that voice. Surprisingly, a sense of peace surrounds him like a warm blanket ... Steve ... He will be there for them. He will take care of his children as if they were his, as he always has done. If something happens, and Danny can't get out of this miserable cell, Steve will be the father of his children.

It couldn't be otherwise ... besides in his will is clearly established, they have spoken several times, when things have become difficult, or Danny has been hurt; and Steve has promised ... it is painful for his friend to make that promise , because that implies accepting the possibility of Danny dying and that is something Steve has refused to do. He has promised Grace countless times that he will always do the impossible for Danny to return home, even at the cost of his own life.

That's why he has no doubt Steve is looking for him and Danny can only hope he doesn't take too long.

* * *

He has spent sixteen hours  without sleep. After the telephone conversation with Lou and Jerry, fatigue begins to be felt in Steve's body. Although his recovery is progressive and faster than the doctor expected, he can't forget it's been just a month, since he left the hospital, weak and weighing almost 20 pounds less than his usual weight. After taking the medication, he drops himself heavily on the bed and closes his eyes. His thoughts travel back to Danny, praying that his friend is fine.

In some way, he trusts Hades won't hurt him ... Danny is the only guarantee he has that Steve will do what he has asked and retrieve the evidence for him, but that doesn't lessen his concern. He allows himself a time to think and irremediably guilt comes back. It's not the first time that Danny's life is in danger because of his mother. It's true that she couldn't guess what would happen, but Steve doesn't stop regretting that the people he loves the most are at constant risk because of the job Doris has done for more than forty years, regretting all the lives that have lost because of it. His eyelids close inexorably, and a restless sleep, seizes him.

* * *

"Who are you?" Catherine asks for the third time, to the man who merely smiles silently. They have taken him to the alley behind the bakery, where they can avoid the looks of the passers-by. Junior has checked his pockets and has taken a cell phone, a wallet, a Glock 380 gun and a wrinkled photograph of Doris. Soon, they realize it's useless to try to get information from him. In an unusual attack of anger, Junior hits him on the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him unconscious.

Catherine says, "We can't leave him here ..." and Doris replies, "Yes, but we can't take him with us ... So, what can we do?"

Without thinking twice, Junior raises the unconscious man on his shoulders, throwing him into a large trash bin filled with rubbish and closes the metal lid, saying, "This will give us some time to sneak out."

Ten minutes later they enter through the main door of the Marriott Hotel, walk directly to the elevator, go out on the third floor, and begin to walk down the hall, silently reading the numbers of the rooms and stopping at the door marked with the number 305. Without hesitation, Doris takes out the card and inserts it in the lock; a few seconds later, a slight beep sounds and a green LED lights up. Catherine pushes the door and they get into the room, quickly closing the door behind them.

"Yao must have paid the room for several weeks," Catherine says, "The locks are re-programmed every time there's a new guest." Junior looks carefully at the large room. Two king size beds, covered with snow-white bedspreads, and a couple of huge red pillows in each. In the background, next to the large window, a small living room and a desk, next to a large dressing table. The bathroom is on the right, next to the door, Junior looks at there, grateful. Sketching a slight smile, he walks towards it, and comes in closing the door.

Catherine walks to the closet, opening it. There are some pants and shirts hanging from the hangers and some socks and underwear accommodated in the wooden shelves. There is a safe, embedded in the side wall. There's a black leather bag, placed on the floor, that she takes and puts on one of the beds, opening it. Inside, some medicine bottles, personal hygiene items and a couple of books.

Doris checks the drawers of the dresser and the bedside table, all are empty. "There must be something here ..." she says uneasily, "Did you find something?"

Cath answers, "Only clothes and a leather bag, but there's nothing out of the usual... In the closet there's a safe, but it's locked." Following her instincts, Doris approaches the safe saying, "It's a six -digit key code", begins to try at random, certain combinations with numbers that she believes may be related to Yao: his son's date of birth, his wife death, and other possibilities ... Nothing!

Junior comes out of the bathroom, to watch Doris, who, frustrated, begins to walk around the room, speaking to herself ... "Yao knew that I would come here ... He wanted me to do it. So it could be a number that is related to me, rather than him ... " Suddenly, she has an idea and walks quickly to the safe, pressing the numbers, 2-9-0-4-9-2. The door opens with a 'click'. Catherine looks at her in surprise, and Doris simply murmurs, "April 29, 1992, was the date of my death". She opens the safe door and looks inside. It's empty.


	11. A new incentive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the people who have read and left a comment to this story. You are my motivation.
> 
> Warning: This chapter has slight moments of graphic violence and torture. Read with discretion.
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy reading and If you have a moment, please tell me what do you think.

**Chapter 10: A new incentive**

_She opens the safe door and looks inside. It's empty._

**Ghent, Belgium.**

Feeling a great frustration, Catherine collapses, sitting on the edge of the bed, and Doris resumes her frantic walk around the room. Junior looks at them saying, "Oh! Come on. We knew it would not be so easy ... here there must be something that tells us where Yao hid the evidence ... ", Doris and Catherine look at him and nod. After a minute of stifling silence, Junior continues, "I suggest we eat something and sleep a little bit. Obviously, nobody inside or outside the CIA knows about this place or it would have been the first place where they would look for evidence. Maybe, after a couple of sleeping hours, with a clear head, we will decide what we're going to do next. "

* * *

The incredible stench and unbearable heat awaken him, "Damn it!" The man thinks as he rubs the back of his head and tries to find out where he is, "That guy does hit hard ...!" Moving in the middle of the huge pile of garbage, he manages to straighten and push, with all its strength, the metal lid. When he looks up he realizes that he's in a courtyard, surrounded by a large number of identical containers; on his right he can see the enormous facade of the trash treatment plant.

Laboriously, he pushes himself with both arms to get out of the container. His condition is unfortunate and his clothes stink, he needs to get out of there. Naively, checks the pockets of the raincoat to find them empty. His phone, wallet and the photograph of the woman he was supposed to watch, have disappeared. "Damn David! Always involving him in his tricky affairs."

As he walks towards the exit, he remembers the instructions of his brother-in-law, said briefly in an intriguing phone call, two days ago: David sent a picture of the woman to his phone and told him to wait for her arrival at the Brussels airport, on a private CIA plane; David warned him about a man, a Navy SEAL, would come with her, so he ordered him to watch all their movements. Today, early in the morning, he printed the picture and went to the hangar to begin his surveillance.

Surprises began when an attractive woman with straight dark brown hair met them in the hangar. She worried him immediately: Her agile and confident movements told him that she was a trained woman and that it would be difficult to defeat her in a fight, despite her slim body. The three got into a car and headed to Ghent, just as David had told him they would.

He followed them until they parked and started walking across the river to a small pub. A few minutes after them, he entered and sat down, ordering a beer. The three of them were gathered by the bar, speaking with the bar tender in a very low voice. He couldn't hear what they were saying, so he waited and watched until they decided to leave.

After, everything went to hell so fast! He followed them at short distance, until they stopped by that bakery. In order to not attract attention, he kept walking and stopped a few feet forward, on the pretext of knotting the cord of his shoe. When he looked at them again, the man was nowhere to be found! ...

He curses himself for having let down his guard, David had told him that the man was a SEAL, so he should have been ready for any suprise movement, US Navy train those guys as deadly weapons. Thinking how useless it's to grieve now, he begins to work out a plan to return to his hotel and call David. He's sure his brother-in-law won't like the news.

* * *

Milos Island, Greece.

Kanakaredes throws, frustrated, his phone against the couch. "Where the hell is Nicolái, and why doesn't he answer the phone?" He takes the glass of whiskey that is on the table cristal cover and drinks its contents in one gulp, as he approaches the huge window and looks at the sea, crashing mercilessly against the rocks of the cliffs. He knew he shouldn't trust his useless brother-in-law. Shelburne is not someone to play with and, from what he has heard, McGarrett is even worse than his mother.

The tracking of the man's phone indicates they arrived in Ghent more than four hours ago, and he has not received any news yet. He intuits McGarrett will take some time to gather all the evidence, before contacting him. Because he's sure that the man will call him, he won't risk his brother's life.

Suddenly, his brain begins to develop a new idea. Maybe it's time to send an incentive to the SEAL, just in case he's thinking about creating problems. With a sinister smile, he gets up and walks to a mahogany showcase that displays a lot of different kinds of weapons. He opens the glass door and takes a huge 8-inch combat knife, leaving the room a few seconds later.

* * *

Danny wakes up again, his head is spinning and an intense feeling of nausea drowns his throat. He turns on to lay on his side, and vomits the sparse contents of his stomach, between painful retching. An intense, lacerating thirst hurts his tongue and throat, as if there were thousands of burning pieces of glass. He crawls to the tray and eagerly drinks the remaining content of the metal jug. It's not enough to quench his thirst, but the humidity is welcome and relieves him, even a little bit.

It's impossible to calculate the time that has passed; the dim light that enters by the embrasure, doesn't give him many clues about the time, it could be dawning or about to darken.

Tears of frustration escape from his eyes. At that moment, he hears the creak of the rusty hinges and turns to look at the door, which opens.

Hades gets into the cell and immediately covers his nose before the unbearable smell that floods the room. A man comes with him, carrying two huge battery lamps that he places on the floor, about five feet from where Danny is sitting, expectantly. Approaches Danny, takes off his shirt tearing it, and takes him by the armpits, lifting him, to hold his hands with a piece of string to a metal ring embedded in the wall.

Now, Danny's body is completely stretched. His feet barely touch the floor and his back hits the wall constantly, hurting with the irregular surface of stone. Hades walks towards him, brandishing the knife with a flaming look and a menacing smile. The other man takes a couple of steps back and pulls out a cell phone to activate the camera a few seconds later.

Fear seizes Danny, who starts shaking his body and screaming, "Bastard! Get out of me…"

Hades speaks in a soft, rhythmic voice, "Unfortunately I can't do that, Detective. I have a suspicion about things are not going as they must be, and I should prevent your friend from doing something stupid, so, smile for the camera and try to be convincing, okay?"

At that moment, Hades approaches the sharp knife and makes a shallow cut on Danny's chest. Blood begins to sprout immediately and Danny sends a piercing cry ... "Damn! ... I'm going to kill you! I swear... " At that moment, another cut crosses his abdomen, drawing a perfect cross with the previous cut. Danny's screams flood the room.

Five minutes later, the screaming has stopped and an unconscious Danny hangs on the rope. His head has fallen forward, his chin rests on his chest and the untidy strands hide his face. Sweaty, Hades leaves the cell saying, "Make sure you give him some water. We still need him... " The other man turns off the phone and hands it to his boss, walks over to Danny and unties the rope, letting the unconscious detective fall to the floor, on the stinky mat.

* * *

Langley, Virginia

The satellite phone begins to vibrate in Steve's hands, who wakes up after a couple of hours of uneasy and restless sleep. He clears his throat a couple of times and answers, "Lou ... What do you have?"

"Hey Steve ... We've been researching the property on Milos Island. We've found some interesting things ... "

Steve sits on the bed and turns on the lamp, pressing the speaker button so that Tani, who has also woken up, listens to the information, "What's up?" He asks.

They both hear Jerry's voice saying, "We have a lot of satellite images from the last month ... Apparently the movement within the property has increased in the last two days. Cargo trucks arrive and depart several times a day ... There are a lot of men working, unloading boxes from the trucks and keeping them in a warehouse located in the northern part of the property. "

"And Kanakaredes? ... "Steve asks, "Is he there? "

"Affirmative, boss. The images show him arriving at the property two days ago, getting out of a car and entering the house. There are no images, which indicate he has left, so he must be still there. "

Steve knows the answer, but anyway he asks, "Is there any sign of Danny?"

Lou replies, "We have not seen any image that proves he's there, but in the southern part of the property there's a building separate from the rest. A woman has entered there several times, carrying trays with water and food ... Danny could be in that building ... "

Steve says, looking at Tani ... "We can't wait any longer, we have to go there. We don't know how much time Danny has or if he is injured. "

Lou asks, "Do you know anything about Doris and Junior?"

"Catherine called to tell me they had landed and they were heading to some place, where Doris thinks the evidence may be ... Now I remember I must call her, guys. I'll call you later, okay? "

Listens to Lou and Jerry saying goodbye and ends the call. a few seconds later, presses the button to call Catherine. In the third tone, his unmistakable voice answers, "Steve ..."

Steve's anxious voice asks, "Hi Cath ... How are you doing?"

She summarizes what happened since they left the airport hangar. She tells him about the pub and the hotel key that Oleg gave them, finally tells him about the bald man who followed them and from whom Junior got rid so efficiently.

Steve shakes his head and says, "Kanakaredes must have sent that guy to make sure we're doing the job ..." Doris's voice is heard on the speaker, "How are you so sure it was him and not any of the CIA double agents?"

"First, because Gordon is in custody. I don't think he had time to send someone to follow us. On the other hand, if that had been the case, he would have sent someone trained in case things got out of control. From what you tell me, it was relatively easy for Junior to knock down that guy ... Anyway... Now what? What is the plan? " He finally asks.

Doris answers, "We need to find out why Yao wanted me to come to the hotel. We have checked the room and there's nothing that tells us where we should go ... "

Tani says, timidly, "Maybe someone was there before you ..."

Doris says, "I don't think so. The room was immaculate. Yao was an obsessive man and everything is how he would have left it ... We're missing something. "

"Well ..." Steve says, "You'll have to search again. Systematically this time, Cath ... Check every corner, every inch... even if you think it's not important. Take out the drawers and check the inside and back of the furniture, even the toilet paper tube in the bathroom ... Everything ".

"Okay ..." Catherine says, "We'll call you when we find something, okay?"

* * *

Ghent, Belgium

The search starts again. As Steve asked, Doris begins to check the interior of the furniture, taking out all the drawers, looking back and under. Under the chairs and the table, between the cushions of the armchairs ... Nothing.

Junior is looking in the bathroom, opens the small bottles of shampoo and moisturizer. Even checks the tube of toothpaste. Looks carefully on the shelves under the sink.

Catherine is looking at the clothes hanging and folded in the closet. Checks all the pockets, the inside of the shoes and the suitcase. Suddenly, she stops for a moment, drawing Doris's attention and stares at her, "What's wrong?" She asks.

"Why was the safe closed?" Catherine asks with a frown, "If there's nothing inside, there's no reason to lock it again, especially with such a specific combination ..."

She leans over the small metal safe, and begins to move her hands inside, feeling all the walls. Suddenly, on the top, her fingers hit a small metal object, held with duct tape. Unable to hide her surprise, she detaches it and pulls it out, while saying in a triumphant voice, "I found something!" She gets up, holding between his fingers a small golden key, no more than an inch long, and shows it to Doris and Junior, who look at her incredulous.

Catherine turns the key and looks at a small inscription on it. It's a square with a diagonal line in the center and a number: 112. Doris comes over and takes the key, looking carefully at the inscription and saying, "I've seen that symbol before ... but where?"

Junior also approaches and looks at the symbol on the key, then walks to the window, opens the curtain and looks down the street saying, "There! ..." Incredulous, Doris and Catherine run to the window. In the building opposite the hotel, there is an ATM, with the same logo printed on the bottom that says,  _Deutsche International Bank._

* * *

Langley, Virginia.

After finishing the call with Catherine, Steve gets up and goes to the small table, pouring a glass of water and drinking it avidly. Tani smiles at him and walks to the table. Steve sits on the edge of the bed and rubs the back of his head, trying to ward off the headache. At that moment his cell phone rings.

He looks it confused, until he identifies the number on the screen. It's the same international number, from where Hades called before. Hoping that the software that Jerry installed to divert the tracking and direct it to the cloned phone that Catherine has with her, he answers. "Hello…"

"Commander McGarrett ... I hope you have good news for me ..."

Steve tries to contain his anger and he avoids that any tone is evident in his voice, "We are looking for ... We have an idea of where it may be, but we still can't find it ..."

"Time is running out, commander ... I'm sure Detective Williams will agree with me on this."

The anguish rises in Steve's stomach and he asks, "What did you do? If you hurt him I'm going to kill you!"

Hades says, in the same calm tone, "Relax, Commander. You need to keep your mind clear and focused"

Angry, Steve asks, "I want to talk to him!"

"I'm afraid that won't be possible for now, Commander. In a moment I'm going to send to you something that will dispel all your doubts and give you a new incentive to find that evidence as soon as possible ... You have 72 hours, or something really bad can happen to your friend."

The call ends abruptly after that, and a few seconds later, the phone vibrates with a message containing a video clip. Fearful, Steve presses the triangle in the center of the screen and the video starts to play.

His face turns pale, tears roll down his cheeks and Danny's screams shake him; the phone falls from his hands as he runs to the bathroom, kneeling in front of the toilet. Tani picks up the phone and plays the video again, unable to contain herself, begins to cry softly.


	12. Hang in there, brother!

**Chapter 11: Hang in there, brother!**

His legs tremble as he gets up and walks to the sink to rinse his mouth. At this moment he feels an immense fury. The only thing he can think about is Danny, the screams and the bleeding cuts in his chest and abdomen. He clenches his fists tightly, allowing himself to calm down his anger: He must think clearly because any misjudgment can cost Danny's life.

Steve comes out of the bathroom, and looks at Tani with a deep sadness. Walks slowly and takes the satellite phone from the table, dialing the number of Commander Wade Hutches. While waiting for him to answer, he tells Tani, "I'll come back in a minute ..." He opens the door and goes out to the corridor.

Tani is sitting on the bed, feeling a great impotence. The video impressed her, but Steve's reaction is something else. His eyes flare with a deep hate.

Twenty minutes later, Steve gets into the room. Tani is surprised at the change in him. His movements are confident and determined, his gaze focused. His expression empty of emotions.

He takes a chair and places it in front of Tani. Sits down and stares at her. "Listen ..." he says, trying to make her understand, "I must get Danny out of there, but I can't force you to go ..." Noticing that Tani wants to say something, he raises his left hand asking for silence and says, "It's too dangerous, Tani ... I know the risks and I'm willing and trained to face them. There's no way I can let that bastard get away with it ... and he's going to pay ... I swear he's going to pay for what he's doing to Danny ... But you ... you don't have to ... "

She takes Steve's hand and squeezes it between hers, saying, "I've learned a lot from you in these months ... You believed in me, when no one else did ... not even me. You have taught me things I would never have learned at the Academy. But the most valuable and important lesson I've learned is that you guys are my family ... I know this is dangerous and I'm willing to face it because I know Danny or you would do the same for me. I know I'm not trained like you, but I can help you ... I want to do it, so please, Steve, don't leave me out of this. "

Steve smiles at the girl, Danny's words describing Tani, come back to his mind; "Unpredictable, stubborn, crazy ... She's the female you ..." He squeezes Tani's hand and says, "Ok ..." he gets up from the chair and starts walking around the room, putting all his stuff into the backpack. "We don't have much time," he said, "I've talked with Commander Hutches and I think he can get a flight to Europe for us, tonight."

* * *

Ghent, Belgium

Junior takes the laptop and turns it on, looking for branches of the Deutsche International Bank in the city. While reading the screen, He says, "According to this information, only three of the branches offer safe deposit boxes ... One is in Sleepstraat, another in Jozef Kluyskenstraat, in front of the Conservatory and the third is in the University campus. But how do we know which of the three belongs to our key? " he asks while looks up to see Doris, who, after thinking for a moment answers, " I think we have no choice but to check them one by one".

Five minutes later, they go out from the elevator towards the street. When leaving through the main door of the hotel, they look around carefully to detect the presence of someone suspicious, but the street is deserted.

They walk to the street where they parked the car, two blocks from the Gravensteen. Ten minutes later, Catherine parks the car in front of the Sleepstraat branch. Junior and Doris get out of the car and enter the bank, approaching a desk, where a pretty girl with curly brown hair smiles at them.

"Good afternoon ..." Doris greets, "do you speak English?"

"Of course ..." the girl replies, "How can I help you?"

"You'll see, miss. My husband died last week and among his things. I found this key to a safe deposit box ..."

The girl takes the key, turns it in her hands and returns it to Doris saying, "Our safe boxes are numbered, and each series of numbers belongs to a different branch. In this branch the safe boxes are numbered 201 to 300. Your key corresponds to the branch located in Jozef Kluyskenstraat ... "

Seeing that Doris stands up to leave, the young lady says, "You will be asked for an ID. I hope your husband has put your name on the file when he signed the registry. Otherwise, they won't allow you to open the box."

Doris looks at her and says, "Actually, I don't know ... He didn't tell me ... What happens if my name is not on the registry?"

The girl replies, "For security, only the people who are in the registry, have access to the safe deposit boxes ... Otherwise, only with a judge order ..." Seeing the disappointment in Doris's face tells her smiling, "It should not be a problem, if you show any document that proves the deceased was your husband, the judge will sign the order without problem".

"Okay... Thanks" Doris says and leaves the branch, followed by Junior. Once on the street, the kid asks ... "Now what?"

Doris shrugs and replies, "All we can do is wait Yao did put my name on the registry, but we won't know until we get there." While looking around for potential suspects, both of them get into the car that moves away a few seconds later.

Soon after, they arrive at their destination. When getting out of the car, Junior looks enthralled at the beautiful Conservatory building that rises majestically across the street. Smiling, Doris says "Come on boy. We don't have time to go sightseeing," they both go to the building, while Catherine waits in the car.

Upon entering, Doris walks to the desk of a young blond guy saying, "I need access to my safe deposit box." She gives him the key and her passport. The guy manipulates the keyboard of his computer and after checking the information, he returns the passport to Doris and says in perfect English, "Of course, Follow me, please!". Surprised, Doris and Junior follow the guy.

The three of them descend some stairs, to a basement, where the security boxes are distributed on the back wall, behind a huge bulletproof glass window. Next to the door, there is a security device, with a numeric keypad and a small screen.

The guy explains, "The first thing you have to do is type the number of your safe deposit box. Then you must type your password ... Push the door when the buzzer sounds. Then, use your key to open your box ... You can take as long as you need."

The boy turns to leave, but Doris stops him, "What happens if I forgot my password?"

"Oh! ... " the boy answers, with a look of disappointment, "In that case, you will need special authorization from the manager to open the box. Try to remember it, it's a six-digit number ... But be careful, the device crashes after three failed attempts" He turns again to exit, while saying," If you need anything else, I'll be at my desk ".

Once they're alone, Doris thinks for a moment, then says with a sigh, "There's only one way to find out, isn't it?" She types in the box number: 112. A few seconds later a text appears on the screen: "PASSWORD : _ "

Without hesitation Doris types, "2-9-0-4-9-2"

Both have bent over the device, their foreheads almost touch and they watch the screen expectantly, until the message "ACCESS AUTHORIZED" appears. Both exhale in relief and Junior pushes the door when he hears the buzzer. The box is located on the left end of the wall. Both approach, Doris enters the key in the lock and the small door opens.

Ceremoniously, Doris takes out the box and places it on the table, opening the metal lid. Inside there are several microfiche, five USB memories and some yellow folders with the word "CLASSIFIED" printed on the front. She looks enthralled all the items, but Junior pulls her out of her slumber saying, "I'm sorry, but we don't have time ..." Starts putting the contents of the box into his backpack. Five minutes later, both leave the bank and get into the car ... Cath asks, anxious, "Do you have it?" Both nod and Catherine turns on the engine silently and drives to the highway towards Brussels.

During the first minutes, nobody says anything, but after a while, Junior asks, "Now what?" Catherine answers, without taking her eyes off the road, "Now, we call Steve and we wait for instructions ..."

* * *

Langley, Virginia.

Steve and Tani have finished packing their things and wait impatiently. At that moment, the satellite phone rings and, after identifying the number on the screen, answers "Wade! ..."

The Commander Hutches' voice sounds cheerful and carefree, "Steve ... I have good news for you".

"I'm glad to hear that?"

"There's a flight departing in half an hour, from Dulles to our base in Germany, to bring home some teammates who were injured on a mission. I think we can give you a ride and make a small stop at the Brussels Airport ... At this moment we are leaving Langley, I'll be in front of your hotel in ten ... "

"Great! Thanks Wade! ... "

"Whatever it takes to bring our boy home ..."

After finishing the call, he sighs in relief. A few seconds later, the phone rings again, Steve smiles and answers, while carrying his backpack. "Cath! ..."

"Sir ... It's Junior."

"Oh! Junior, how's it going?" Hearing the kid's name, Tani stands up, wistful.

The boy presses the speaker button and Catherine's voice sounds triumphant, "Steve ... We've got it!"

Steve rubs his eyes to contain the tears and a strangled sigh springs from his throat. Apparently things start to get better at last! ... After a few seconds of anguished silence, Catherine asks, "Steve? ..."

"Yes, Cath ... I'm here! Those are excellent news! "

"We decided that it was better to leave Ghent as soon as possible. Although we made sure no one was following us, we are now heading to Brussels. "

"Excellent Cath! ... Listen ... Our flight departs in half an hour. We must be in Brussels in about nine hours. Go and check in at a hotel and make sure no one is watching you. And rest for a while... this has only begun ..."

Listening to her instincts, she asks, "Do you know anything about Danny?"

Steve clenches his fists and breathes a couple of times, trying to control himself. "Yes ... Hades sent a video ... You must have received it also on the phone that Jerry cloned ... Cath! He's torturing Danny!"

"Oh God! Steve ... "

"We have to get him out of there ASAP ..." Steve says, desperate.

"We will ... I promise. Listen, we'll see you in Brussels in nine hours, okay?"

Steve asks, "The plane is still in the hangar?"

"Yes ... What are you thinking?"

"I have an idea! I'll tell you when I get there. I'll see you in the hangar ... Don't forget to copy all the information you've found. I'll call Director Bennett to make sure the plane fuel tank is full ... See you later Cath ... Hey Junior! "

The young SEAL immediately replies, "Yes sir ..."

"Here is someone who wants to say hello ..." Steve presses the button to turn off the speaker and gives the phone to Tani who greets, "Hi Junes! ..." While the kids talk, Steve and Tani take their backpacks and leave the room. Two minutes later, Wade Hutches picks them up at the hotel main entrance.

* * *

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean

Steve looks at Tani and can't help feeling a twinge of envy. The girl sleeps peacefully, leaning on his shoulder. He could never do that. In the training they made sure that the recruits understood the importance of taking advantage of any time and place to sleep, because he never knew when it would be the next time he could do it.

Steve could sleep in the jungle, on the rocky ground and even between the branches of a tree, but he could never sleep on board of military aircrafts.

Along with the noise, the tension always seemed to overwhelm all the members of the team, while they thought about what was coming ... Some thought about their families, others wrote, the commanders discussed in a low voice the details of the mission ... Steve always sat, with a lost look, thinking of all those who had gone...

Now thinks of Danny and again the anger is gathering in his stomach. Silently, prays for he arrives on time and for fate to give him a few minutes with Hades to make him pay ... "Hang in there, Danno!" He says to himself, wishing that, thanks to a strange magic, his brother could hear him, he could feel him, "I'm on my way... Wait please, brother!"

* * *

Milos Island, Greece

The door opens again, and the creak of the hinges awakens him. Danny opens his eyes in pain. The blood on his chest and abdomen has dried, sticking to the torn fabric of his shirt. He's shaking and his teeth collide with each other. He knows he's feverish and his head booms as if a million drums were playing inside. Testing his strength, he tries to crawl to the jug of water. Drinks avidly, half of the content, saving the rest for later.

The woman approaches and sits down, gently places Danny's head on her lap and begins to clean the wounds with gauze soaked in antiseptic. The burning makes him shudder, but he barely has the strength to resist. Simply, looks at her deep eyes, framed by thick and abundant black lashes. Her face is covered by the cloak. Danny sighs, closes his eyes and mutters, "Thank you ..."

He can see that she smiles, because small wrinkles appear at the corners of her eyes. But she doesn't say anything ... she continues to clean the wounds while making that sound with her mouth, every time she touches a particularly painful spot ... "Shhhh! ..."

A few minutes later, she leaves the cell, putting a new jug of water and a loaf of bread on the tray, within Danny's reach. The door emits a resounding echo as it closes, leaving Danny plunged into darkness, broken only by the dim light of the moon entering through the embrasure.

Tears come from Danny's eyes, who makes no effort to contain them. He knows he won't stand long if things go on like this. Despair seizes his soul for a moment, but suddenly, a sense of peace floods him and Steve's powerful voice fills his mind and heart ... "Hang in there Danno! I'm on my way ... Wait please, brother!"


	13. Go now and get it over

 

 

 

**Chapter 12: Go now and get it over**

_"Hang in there Danno! I'm on my way ... Wait please, brother!"_

When Steve wakes up, a great confusion invades his mind. He doesn't know what date or time it is, due to the frenetic pace that everyone has had since leaving Hawaii. The terrible images of Danny bleeding, have tormented him during the sleep. Wade has come to sit next to him, saying, "We'll land in Brussels in 15 minutes."

Steve looks at his watch, but the hour in it doesn't make sense, stunned asks, "What time is it?"

"It's 05:00, local time." The commander answers, smiling at the confused look of his friend. Then, more seriously, he says, "Listen to me Steve, I know this is important for you, maybe the most important thing you've ever done since I've known you. I'm here, okay? If you need help or there's anything I can do to get Danny back safely, count on me."

Steve smiles, grateful once more for the incredible people around him who are willing to do anything for him and for his Ohana. After a few seconds, he places both hands on Wade's shoulders and says, "I'll probably need your help more than once from now on, buddy."

"Whatever you need…"

"Listen... There's a package that I need you to keep safe for me. It's extremely sensitive and dangerous information, which I must deliver to the Director of the CIA, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure Danny is safe. "

"That information is the reason why they're holding him, isn't it?" Wade asks, squinting, trying to understand the magnitude of what Steve is asking, but not forcing him to reveal the nature of the information, which clearly, is classified.

"Exactly ..." Steve answers, "That information is the proof the CIA needs to end the operations of a weapons dealer who has been doing business, with impunity, for more than 20 years ... Although there is also something else ..."

Wade remains silent, waiting for Steve to finish, which he does a few seconds later. "That information also uncovers the double game of some CIA agents who have been selling their colleagues with the sole purpose of filling their pockets ..." Steve's gaze returns to focus on Wade's eyes and says, "If I could, I would catch those bastards right now by myself, but Danny is in the middle now. That guy has kidnapped him and he could kill him if I don't do something soon. "

"You don't need to say anything more, Steve. I'll do it... I'll keep the package and deliver it to Director Bennett as soon as you tell me ... "

"Thanks man. But remember, no one else knows we have this ... and the package must be delivered to Bennett in person, to no one else. Is that clear? "

"Perfectly, commander," Wade can almost see the gears in McGarrett's mind, as he thinks about how to rescue Danny.

Steve's gaze suddenly lights up, as he says, "I also need another favor ... I need you to move your contacts. We need to land at the NATO naval base in Suda ... We should be there in about three hours."

"I think I can do that," Hutches replies.

Steve shakes Wade's hand affectionately and turns to see Tani, who at that moment yawns loudly and asks, "What time is it?"

"Time to go," Steve replies with a smile.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the landing gear touches the runway and the plane rolls slowly towards the hangar. Steve looks out the window and sees a black car parked a short distance from the hangar doors, next to the small white CIA plane which, Steve hopes, is ready to take off.

When the military plane stops and the rear ramp descends, Steve, Tani and Wade walk quickly, to meet Junior. Without wasting time with greetings, Steve asks, "Junior, did you copy all the information?"

"Yes, sir ..." the boy answers, while giving Steve a black backpack. He turns to look at Wade and puts the backpack in his hands, saying, "Remember ... to no one but Bennett."

"Copy that" Wade answers and turns to get back on the plane, but suddenly remembers something and looks back at Steve saying, "Hey Commander! ... You said you would need my help several times, what else do you need?"

Steve nods and says, "I'm still not sure. When we have a plan, I'll call you, buddy."

"All right ..." Wade puts his hand to his forehead, making a military salute. Seconds later the ramp rises and the plane returns to roll by the runway, to take off heading Germany.

Steve, Tani and Junior walk towards the small plane, whose fuselage shines, reflecting the warm light of the sun that appears timidly in the horizon. At that moment, Catherine and Doris get out of the car to meet them at the bottom of the ladder. Doris comes over and kisses Steve gently on the cheek, saying, "The first part of the mission has been completed, Steven. Now we go to get Danny. " He smiles and hugs his mother lightly, then looks at Catherine.

He approaches her and wraps her in an affectionate hug, while the others board the plane. The hug lasts for some time, until Steve moves away a little, and kisses Catherine on the cheek saying, "Thanks, Cath ..."

"You don't have to thank me, Steve. As your mother says, we haven't completed the mission yet, so you can thank me once we've gotten Danny out of there ... "

"Ok ..." he says with a sad smile, "We should go ..."

"Where are we going?" She asks, intrigued.

"To Suda, on the island of Crete ..." he answers.

Catherine thinks for a couple of seconds and says, "We can have some problems, Steve. The flight plan says we're going back to the United States. "

He answers simply, as he turns to start climbing the ladder, "Don't worry about that. Once we're in the air, we'll warn the tower about the change in the flight plan." They both get in the plane, but when Catherine turns to close the door, Steve stops her saying," Wait a minute, Cath ... Don't close yet."

Steve walks towards the cabin, where the pilot waits for the order to take off. With an expressionless voice, he says, "Good morning, Commander. Ready to take off? "

Steve shakes his hand and says, "In fact, yes, Captain. But you won't go with us ... "

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I'll fly this. You stay here. Director Bennett should call you to give some instructions." The pilot frowns and tries to resist, "I'm sorry sir, but my orders say I should ... "

"I revoke those orders, Captain. Now, please get off the plane," Steve says, with the attitude of a Navy Commander accustomed to having his orders obeyed immediately and without reply.

Resigned, the man gets up and walks towards the door, where Catherine waits. Three minutes later, the plane rolls down the runway and takes off, quickly fading itself in the pink sky, while the pilot looks at it helplessly. At that moment, two black cars, without license plate, enter at full speed and stop, next to the hangar.

* * *

Nine hours before ...

Nicolai goes through the revolving door of his hotel. Walks towards the front desk, ignoring the gestures of displeasure that people make when passing by them. Asks for a copy of his room key and goes to the elevator a few minutes later.

Upon entering the room, walks directly to the bathroom, taking off the dirty and stinky clothes and opening the shower tap. For a few minutes, he lets the hot water fall on his aching body. With a deep sigh, he takes the soap and begin to rub vigorously, letting the dirt escape through the drain. A while later, the bathroom door opens, letting out a cloud of steam and Nicolai comes out, with a towel wrapped around his waist. He drops face down on the bed, and closes his eyes. He knows he must talk to David as soon as possible, but he knows what is going to happen when he talks to him, so he decides he must rest for a while, first. A few seconds later, snoring invades the room.

Several hours later, he wakes up shocked. He straightens up to look at the clock on the bedside table, the numbers lit in red indicate 04:30 am. Damn it! He was supposed to close his eyes just for a moment! Hesitating for a couple of minutes, he finally takes the phone and presses zero. Two seconds later, he hears the unmistakable tone and dials his brother-in-law's number.

* * *

Milos Island, Greece

The phone rings and vibrates on the bedside table. David Kanakaredes turns, restless, away from the warm and nude nice body that, until a few seconds ago, he was hugging affectionately. With a grunt, he answers. "Hello…"

"David, It's Nicolai"

David straightens up in bed and shouts, "Can you tell me where the hell you've been? I've been trying to call you for hours and you don't answer your damn phone! " The girl, upset by the noise, gets up and walks naked around the room, distracting David's attention for a second. When she comes out, he focuses again.

It takes several minutes for Nicolai to explain what has happened.

David can hardly believe it, "I told you the man was a trained Navy SEAL! If there is someone you shouldn't take off the eyes was precisely him."

"I know, man ... I'm sorry, I only got distracted for a moment and when I realized he was missing ... But then, he was next to me ... they asked all the time 'Who are you?' And then, he lost the patience and hit me ... "

"You're so stupid! ..." David spits, furious.

"Now, what do you want me to do?" Nicolai's voice sounds hopeful that his brother-in-law will give him another chance, but David says scornfully, "Don't do anything ... I'll take care of this ..." With palpitating anger, Kanakaredes presses the button and the call ends ...

He breathes a little to try to calm down. Now he's happy again, for having sent the video to McGarrett, so the SEAL will think twice before betraying him. How do the Americans say? ... Better safe than sorry, right?

Feeling more calm, he looks for a number in the contact list of his phone and starts a call. When someone answers, he says ... "We have a problem, I need you to find someone ... At this moment I don't know where he is ... yesterday afternoon, my man saw him in Ghent, three blocks from Gravensteen, but we don't know if he's still there ... I know... I know It's not much, but you'll figure a way to find this guy, you know I'll pay you well. I'll send the information to your phone ... " He makes a pause and his eyes light up, "Listen, I have an idea. The guy arrived, along with a woman, two days ago to Ghent in a private plane which must now be in the hangar zone at the Brussels Airport. Keep an eye on the plane and don't let it take off, until I tell you, is that clear? "

After finishing the call, David goes back to bed, thinking. It's logical that McGarrett has left Nicolai out of combat. The SEAL must have detected him immediately. His brother-in-law isn't trained and, now he thinks about it, this guy is designed to stand out, with his prominent baldness and his huge size. Now he realizes it was a mistake to entrust Nicolai with such an important task. McGarrett was not going to let anyone interfere with his mission. Mentally, he thinks about the reasons why the man will follow his instructions, once he has found the evidence. All these reasons are summarized in one: His warning was clear, if he doesn't comply, his friend will have a very bad time. David sketches that malicious smile again and before he realizes, he's deeply asleep again.

* * *

Suda, Island of Crete. Greece

Two and a half hours after take-off, Steve talks to the control tower of the NATO naval base. Shortly after, the plane rolls on the landing strip. Steve has spoken with Director Bennett, advising him of his upcoming arrival in Suda. He had to remind him that, according to his agreement, his decisions would not be questioned and he has convinced Bennett to request support from the Navy personnel at the base.

Smiles at the thought that it must not have cost Bennett too much to get support. The Special Activities Division of the Navy, has been trying to catch Kanakaredes for some time and Steve has offered his head on a silver platter.

When getting off the plane, Steve shakes hands with Lieutenant Pendelbury, and walks with him in the direction of the Intelligence building of the naval base, followed by Doris, Catherine, Tani and Junior.

Ten minutes later, the five are sitting in front of an oval table, in a small room. Lieutenant Pendelbury has gone out of the room, to let them speak freely and  to make sure they can give the Commander as much help as possible.

Steve's first call is for Five-0; Before dialing, he makes a quick calculation. At this moment it should be 07:30 pm in Honolulu, Steve thinks Lou and Jerry should still be in the office. Now he thinks about it, he's sure neither of them has moved from there. He imagines them in front of the smart table, desperate to get some news.

At the first tone, Lou answers, "Steve ... what happened?"

"Hi Lou ... A lot of things have happened but it's hard to explain them right now. Is Jerry with you? "

Jerry's voice is loud and clear, "Here I am ..."

"I need you to do your magic, Jerry ..." Steve says, "In seven hours, I should call Hades, is it possible to make the signal on my phone bounce to make it looks like I'm in Washington DC?"

"Sure, commander ... give me a few minutes."

"And where are you?" Lou asks.

Steve replies, "We are in Crete ..."


	14. Facing Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I want to thank all of your amazing comments and for taking the time to read.
> 
> This chapter contains brief mentions of the episodes 1x23, 3x06 and 4x19, but nothing that reveals the plot of these episodes.
> 
> Enjoy reading

**Chapter 13: Facing fear**

_**"We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all"**   
**Eleanor Roosevelt** _

* * *

 

"Wow!" Lou asks, surprised, "Crete?"

"Yes ... We're at the NATO Naval Base in Suda. We got support from the Navy personnel stationed at the base ..." Steve nervously looks at his watch and asks," How's that Jerry? ... Hades will call, and if he suspects something weird, Danny could have more problems. "

"Just a second ..." Jerry answers, "It's done! We're going to test it. Turn on the phone." At that moment, Lou and Jerry begin to see on the screen, the signal that jumps from one continent to another, and the IP address constantly changing and bouncing around the planet, until, finally, a blinking dot appears on the map at the city of Washington DC.

"Excellent ..." Jerry says, "Commander, now your phone is in the Nation's capital."

Steve looks at his watch, it's been four of the nine hours that the flight from Brussels to Washington D.C. should take, so he turns off the phone again while listening to Lou asking, "Now, what's the plan?"

"We're going to meet with Naval Intelligence Team to obtain all the information about the security, personnel, satellite images and thermals of the property in Milos. Listen guys ... maybe we can't talk in the next few hours. If this is going to be a Navy Op, it will soon be marked as classified, okay? I'll call you as soon as I can."

"Good luck!" Jerry and Lou say at the same time and the call ends. At that moment, Lieutenant Pendelbury enters the room and, looking at Steve says, "Commander McGarrett, sir ... we are ready in the intelligence room."

* * *

Milos Island, Greece

The phone rings on the bedside table, and David shakes nervously, straightening to answer. "Hello…"

"Sir, it's Michel ..."

Kanakaredes sits on the edge of the bed, asking, "Did you find him?"

"Well ... we know where he is. But I'm afraid we were late ... McGarrett and his team got on the plane and took off five minutes before we arrived ..."

"His team?"

"Yes sir. When we got there, the pilot was on the track, they left without him. We questioned him ... At first he didn't want to say anything, but the fear of receiving a bullet in the brain can be very persuasive. He told us that Commander McGarrett ordered him to get out of the plane, telling he would fly himself. He was apparently accompanied by three women and a young man. "

"Do you know who they are?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. The pilot said he doesn't know them and, after the fear we put him through, I don't think he's lying."

"He told you what the flight plan is?"

"Yes sir. The plane is heading to Washington, its arrival time is approximately in nine hours. "

"Okay... I'll call you later to give more instructions."

David doesn't know what to think. Obviously, McGarrett has the evidence in his possession, but why return to the United States so hastily? Takes the phone and dials the commander's cell phone number ... It sends directly to voicemail. The phone must be inactive during the flight.

He curses himself, thinking he should have given McGarrett instructions on what he should do when he had retrieved the evidence. Suddenly, an odd feeling rises from his stomach. Maybe the man is planning something? Would he dare to risk his friend's life?

From the reports he received about McGarrett, David doesn't think that is possible. The SEAL is an intrepid man and he would never hesitate to risk his own life, but the information says that, during his career with the SEALs or running his task force in Hawaii, he never risked his men's lives if he could avoid it. Starts walking around the room. Damn it! He will have to wait for the flight to land to call the commander and agree on the delivery point.

* * *

The fever is more and more intense, he feels chills all over his body, his arms and legs tremble and thirst is increasingly unbearable. He opens his eyes, but the light hurts him, sending stitches of intense pain to his brain. His periods of consciousness are getting shorter and his mind travels, deceiving him.

Looks towards the corner of the cell, someone walks to him, a little girl with pigtails dressed in a tennis outfit. When she is two steps away from him, he recognizes her, is Grace. But how? She's only eight or nine years old. Confused, he looks at her, while she bends down and places her hand on his cheek, caressing him fondly, "Danno!"

Danny smiles and murmurs, "Hi monkey!"

Little Grace leans over him and kisses his cheek repeatedly, muttering. "Hold on, Danno! Uncle Steve won't fail to arrive soon. He'll get you out of here ..." Danny closes his eyes and intense sobs erupt from his throat. Suddenly, the warm feeling of Grace's hand has disappeared. Scared, he opens his eyes and she's gone.

Now, an icy air flow wraps around his head and runs down his spine, causing an unpleasant sensation. He looks to the left and sees Marco Reyes, leaning over a wooden table, with a gunshot in the forehead. "Oh God!" He thinks, trying to ward off the terrible image.

He doesn't understand what is happening to him. Maybe he's delirious with fever, but the sensations are so real! A strong tightness in the chest prevents him from breathing. He's sitting on the floor loosening his tie, Steve's terrified face is a couple of inches from his saying, "Danny ... Danny, stay with me!" Closes his eyes trying to breathe normally, when he opens them again, a red laser points to his chest and a quick and intermittent beep resounds in his brain. "Okay, Steve ..." says "Get out of here, come on!"

"Forget about it…"

"Do me a favor and go, please. If something happens, I need you to take care of Grace. Now go"

"That's your job, pal! OK? You're her dad. "

His breathing quickens and he suddenly hears a voice that says "Clear!" He leans down and places his hands on his knees, breathing, deeply relieved. His head is spinning.

Suddenly he's on his back; a huge amount of rocks and concrete are on it, imprisoning him. His partner's voice, screams, desperate, "Danny!" And a hand closes to squeeze his. "I've got you buddy! I'm right here. I've got you"

His leg is trapped under a huge block of concrete, which his partner takes away with the help of a solid metal bar. The pain extends from his abdomen when Steve removes the rod that hurts him and spills peroxide on the wound ... he's afraid ... Afraid of not to be able to get out of here, afraid of his friend, who has always arrived on time, this time can't make it.

Takes a couple of deep breaths. Steve taught him to face fear, told him fear was only a state of mind and that he had to fight with everything he had to overcome the fear... Now, lying face up on the horrible mat, with his teeth chattering together and shaking uncontrollably, he thinks of the absurd response he gave Steve. He told him that fear was his friend! ... What a fool! Now he regrets all the opportunities he has lost in his life because of fear, because he doesn't have the courage to overcome it and to stop always gravitating to the worst situation.

Before today, a part of him always thought that Steve was reckless, that he didn't listen to fear, not once, and that's why he threw himself headlong without thinking about the most dangerous situations; but after years of watching him act, always amazed by his friend's ability to clear his mind and face the most terrible things with a cool head, analyzing all possible scenarios and act accordingly. Colombia, the virus on the ship ... the quarantine and the gunshot ... Steve has always been the positive force in his life, the energy that has taught him to conquer fear ... Silently, he remembers Steve's voice ... "I'm right here, buddy!"

A silent promise rises from his heart, if Steve gets him and he comes out alive from this, he promises his brother and himself, he will never again let fear dictate his actions, preventing him from being completely happy. His eyes close, heavy, he's no longer afraid, but he's so tired! He lets the dreams envelops him again, convinced that his partner should be here very soon.

* * *

NATO Naval Base, Suda, Island of Crete.

He spent three hours checking the intel... The Kanakaredes property on the west coast of the Milos island is heavily guarded. There are security guards crossing the perimeter, surrounded by an electrified fence five meters high.

To the east of the property there's a house. With a high-tech security system, protecting a huge 22 room construction, a movie theater, an indoor pool and a sauna.

In the northern part, an enormous warehouse, with a constant movement of entry and exit of merchandise and large quantities of wooden boxes which, the military assumes, contain weapons and ammunition. Next to the warehouse, a small one level building, where, Steve thinks, are the offices and operations center of the security team.

In front of the house, a huge courtyard, the size of a football field, separates it from the fence which, on the west side, is a short distance from a fifty-yard cliff that descends vertically to the sea, where the waves constantly beat a group of sharp rocks.

To the south, separated by more than thirty yards from the rest of the buildings on the property, there's a fuel tank and another one level building , about ninety or one hundred yards long. Steve remembers Lou told him about a woman had come in with water and food, several times. Asks the officer to give him the thermals. Inside, sees the unmistakable mix of yellow and red colors that indicates the presence of life. At this moment there are at least two people inside. A man walks down a long corridor. Beyond, almost on the edge of the building, a motionless figure lies on the ground.

Steve's heart speeds up, looking at Catherine eloquently. She takes his arm and presses gently, but doesn't say anything. The marine who manipulates the keyboard says, "I've hacked the security system. It's an advanced system that changes the access code every 24 hours, but as incredible as it sounds, the code is the same for all doors." Frowning, he presses a couple or more keys and says," Today's code is 3-6-9-1-2-4-7. " Catherine takes a pen from the table and, not finding a piece of paper, writes the numbers on the skin of her left forearm.

"Okay ..." Steve says in a professional tone. "We're going to do this tonight. In the first group there will be the four of us," he says, pointing to Doris, Catherine and Junior. "Cath, Doris and you will come down on the roof and get into the building by this door," points a place on the screen. "Junior, you and me will arrive by the cliff. Once we have put Detective Williams in a safe place, we will go to find Kanakaredes "... Before the disappointed Tani's look, he says" You'll be our link. You're going to stay in the helicopter and coordinate everything for the extraction. Lieutenant ... " Steve turns to look at the young lieutenant who is going to lead the SEAL support team, "You and your men will descend here," points out an area free of trees that they have marked as the place for extraction, "You must secure the perimeter and the warehouse, no one should leave the property, Kanakaredes business ends today". The young SEAL nods and everyone spends the next fifty minutes planning the details of the mission.

Twenty minutes later everyone is getting ready. Steve looks at his watch, six hours left until the start of the mission. After a brief conversation with the lieutenant, he leaves the intelligence room, followed by Catherine, Doris and the kids. They have assigned a couple of rooms for his team, in the main building of the base. Steve stops in front of the door of one of them, seeing Catherine, Tani and Doris while they get into the second room. He turns to look at Junior and says, "Get some sleep, Junior. I'll wake you up in a couple of hours ... "

"Yes, sir ..." the young SEAL answers and enters the room.

Thoughtful, Steve walks down the hall, out into a garden surrounded by some trees and sits down on a wooden bench, looking out, far away to the ocean. Calculates the time and turns the cell phone on. If as he thinks, Kanakaredes is aware of his supposed flight to the United States, he should call in a few minutes.

A light sea breeze caresses his face, closes his eyes and breathes deeply and, one more time, thinks of Danny. He knows everything is ready to get him out of there, he just hopes for them to arrive on time.

The cell phone rings and he answers ... "McGarrett ..."

Hades's obnoxious voice sounds from the other side of the line, "Commander ... I guess you have something for me ..."

Steve tries to contain his anger and answers, "I do ... Now what?"

"You should go to the Arlington National Cemetery; I guess you know that place ..."

"Yes ..." his hate towards that man grows with every second that passes.

"You will arrive at the Unknown Soldier's Tomb, and walk towards the trees that are behind the monument, someone will see you there. You should be there this afternoon at 6, after the changing of the guard. Once I have the evidence, I will release Detective Williams. "

"How can I be sure that you will fulfill your part of the deal?" He asks with contempt.

"Unfortunately you can't, commander. You should trust me, because if you don't , your dear friend will be dead at 06:05. " Hades answers, and the call ends abruptly.

Steve spits out his anger, "You damn bastard!" That man's lack of respect knows no limits. He chose the cemetery for a reason: Show his sneer and contempt, choosing a sacred place for all members of the United States Armed Forces, because it honors all those who have lost their lives in defense of the Nation. Closes his eyes and remembers briefly his last visit to that place. It was a rainy afternoon and he stood there, looking at the sentinel, for more than twenty minutes. He could never express in words what he felt at that moment, remembering all his teammates who had died under his command.

Someone approaches, sitting next to him. He doesn't need to look, he knows who is. He was always surprised at the connection between them. Catherine fully understands what he feels at this moment.

"You should sleep, Cath ..." he says in a low voice.

She takes his hand and caresses it gently. "Apparently, we both suffer from insomnia, Steve. And since neither of us can't sleep, I thought we could stop postponing that pending conversation ... We have time. "


	15. A pending talk

**Chapter 14: A pending talk**

**_"If you never talk about a thing, it's as if it had not happened."_ **

_**Oscar Wilde** _

* * *

Suddenly, Catherine realizes she's nervous, her heart beats fast and her hands tremble a little. Noticing that, Steve places his hand on her forearm saying, "Come on, Cath! This is me ... We have always been able to talk, no matter how difficult the issue was."

She takes a couple of deep breaths and asks, "You were scared?"

Visibly bewildered by the question, Steve frowns, trying to guess what she means.

"I mean about cancer, Steve ... were you scared?"

"Honestly yes, Cath ... I guess I always thought the end would be different ... I mean, we're always living to the limit, risking our lives all the time. I guess I thought it would end like this, on a mission, defending my Country ... Or on the streets, solving a case. But those weeks made me think, Cath and redefine my life. I can tell you, all this changed everything I knew about myself. "

"In what sense?"

"About the things I have and everything I've achieved in my life. There were times when I thought I had nothing, that my life had been empty and meaningless. There was no legacy, Cath... That is precisely what I feared, not cancer itself. I was terribly afraid of dying and not having done anything to be remembered ... But then something happened that changed my perspective. "

"What was that?"

"I saw the people around me, Cath ... Mainly Danny. You see, he was with me all the time, he helped me overcome it, I don't know what I would have done if he had not been there. The others were there too, the team, the children ... and then I had that 'dream' ..." Noticing Catherine's strange expression, he explains "I had a dream and I saw my dad. He told me that my legacy had been the battles I've fought, the lives I've saved and the people I love and who love me ... I guess that everything he said, opened my eyes and showed me that, actually, I'm not as alone as I thought " .

"I'm so sorry I was not there for you! ..."

"You were there, Cath ..." Steve gets up from the bench and stands in front of her. Bends his knees and leans until his eyes are level with hers, places his hands on her thighs and says, "Listen ... you did what you could, and it was a lot! The fact that I had the opportunity to fix things with Doris, to talk to her and forgive each other, Cath, That helped me ... helped me a lot. "

She closes her eyes and puts her hands over his, "After we talked and started the new mission, I couldn't think of anything else, Steve. I was there, in the middle of the world, trying to solve problems and save the lives of people I don't even know. And you ... one of the most important people in my life, you were fighting against that horrible disease, alone. I left you alone Steve. Twice!"

"I told you I was not alone, Cath ..."

"Yes, but my duty was to be with you."

"No, Catherine. This is not about duty ... Some time ago you chose your own way, you should be free and decide your life. I won't deny that, at that moment, it hurt me not to be part of your choice, but I learned to live with that and go on." He stands up again, and takes her hand to help her to stand up. Both begin a quiet walk.

"We weren't meant to be, Cath. But, I have to be honest, that doesn't mean it has not hurt like hell ... But it's not all on you, I also made mistakes ... A ton!" He says, with a sad smile, lowers his voice until the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a whisper, "I never told you I loved you ... I guess it has something to do with the McGarrett genes. Showing feelings is showing weakness and I couldn't afford to be weak. It's absurd, now I know, and I'm sorry, I know it must have hurt, Cath. I never told you how important you were to me."

"I knew, Steve. I know you, do you forget? "

He stops for a moment and looks at her, "I know. You know me better than anyone, I've always been able to share with you all aspects of my life. All classified operations, all the years of my military life, things I've not been able to share with anyone else. That's why I'm grateful, Cath. Having you in my life is one of the best things that have ever happened to me, and I don't want to lose that. "

"Me neither, Steve. You're my best friend ... my only friend." He smiles at her and she remembers there was a time when that smile made her knees shake.

"There's something else, Cath ..." he says, holding her hand in his, "I know the last time we said that having involved feelings and sex had been a terrible mistake for our friendship. At that time I didn't tell you, but I don't believe so. I don't regret any minute spent with you, Catherine. All that time made me the man I am, I grew up thanks to you. I had your support when I needed it. I loved you Cath ... I really did. I think a part of me will always love you and that's fine, it's not a mistake. Not talking about it, is pretending that it never happened and I can't do that, what there was between us, the love we had, Cath. It happened and I'm grateful for that. "

"I don't regret it either, Steve. You're the love of my life and that will never change, I don't want it to change. But I need to go on and I need to know that, although we are far from each other, we'll always be friends and that you'll be fine. "

"I'll be fine, and so will you. We'll both be fine, because we're strong, but you must allow yourself to seek and find someone to love, Cath. Someone who drives you crazy! Who makes you do the dumbest things, laugh at the silly jokes, someone with whom you can be yourself, who loves you and whom you love no matter what happens."

"Sounds easy, doesn't it?" She asks with a voice sprinkled with sarcasm.

"It's difficult, but not impossible, all you have to do is open up to the possibility of loving again and you will find that person."

"Lynn is that person for you?" she asks, unable to prevent a slight touch of jealousy in her voice.

"I don't think so. We're so different. We're interested in different things ... I like her, but nothing more. That's why we finished our relationship."

"Oh! I'm sorry."

"I'm not. She's a nice girl and deserves someone who understands her and makes her happy. It's just that I'm not that someone," he replies, shrugging.

"And do you think you'll find that person someday?"

"I don't know, I hope so! ... I'm open to the possibility, Cath. Maybe our ideal person is so close that we can't even see... or know he or she is the one."

"From the bottom of my heart, I hope you find your ideal person, Steve ... but I'm going to miss you!" She says, as she approaches him, until her face is a couple of inches from his. Steve leans down, kisses her softly on the lips, and says, "I'll always be here for you, Cath, as you are for me today."

They walk slowly among the shadows cast by the tops of the trees in the dim evening light. A few minutes later, they decide to go get ready for the mission.

* * *

The team is ready, waiting on the runway. The blades of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk begin to spin at high speed, raising a current of air and sand that forces them to squint as they approach the huge bird. Tani sits next to the pilot, putting on her headphones. Steve sits by the door, next to Junior, since they will be the first to descend. The SEAL team together with Doris and Catherine, settle in the back. Tani looks at the scene, amazed: Without needing words, everyone knows what to do and when to do it.

After twenty-five minutes of flight, the pilot says, "Sir, we are half a mile from the coast, it's time ..." The helicopter descends until the turbulence of the air causes waves on the surface of the water, Steve and Junior throw themselves into the water and the pilot returns to raise the chopper, going to the island ...

* * *

_His teammate runs in front of him, towards the door they entered earlier. When they are about to open it to get out of there, the voice in the intercom says, "Hold on! ... There are three men walking in front of the building ... " After four interminable minutes, the voice speaks again, "The exit is clear! you can leave now. We'll see you on the fence ... "_

_Both men walk stealthily but quickly, carrying their precious cargo. They have barely traveled a couple of yards when the alarm sounds and the screams begin to come from everywhere... A rain of gunshots hinders their escape..._

* * *

The members of the SEAL team have been distributed around the fence and start firing to cover the retreat of both men. At the first opportunity, they take refuge next to the fuel tank and Steve makes a sign to the lieutenant, who waits by the wire fence door.

Catherine and Doris have gone out on the roof. They approach the edge and secure the ropes, to descend by the south side of the building. Catherine starts down, watching the other rope swing at her side. When her feet touch the ground and she looks up, to look for Doris, she's nowhere to be found. Tries to talk to her over the intercom, but she doesn't get an answer. At that moment, someone on the roof begins to pick up the ropes and Catherine watches, helpless, they are rising rapidly.

She hears Steve's voice, "Team two ... Do you copy?"

"Here, team two," she replies, trying to hide under the shadow cast by the wall, staying away from the view of the men who shoot from the roof.

"What's your position?" Steve asks.

"Steve, I've managed to get off, I'm under fire in the back of the building, but ..." she hesitates for a moment, until she hears Steve's impatient voice "but what Cath? You're okay?"

"Doris didn't make it. I think they captured her. "

Steve arrives at the fence running, leaning down, gently placing Danny on the ground and telling Junior, "Take Danny to the extraction point."

"And you sir?" The young man asks nervously.

"I have to come back, Junior ..." Steve answers "Take care of Danny for me, okay?"

"I will, sir.He'll be okay"

Junior looks at Steve who, quickly, heads back to the fuel tank. Steve realizes that the intensity of the shooting has diminished. After looking around, he runs to the entrance of the building, while asking for the intercom, "Cath, where are you?"

She answers, "Behind you ... I'm going with you!" He turns and watches Catherine appear around the corner of the building and running to where he is.

"Negative, Catherine. Get out of here!"

"I won't do it, sailor. We're together in this…"

He smiles and both enter the building. The corridor is deserted, while they run in the direction of the stairs which lead to the roof. When they turn in a corner they look at him.

Hades is holding a weapon. The cold metal of the cannon points to Doris' head, who is kneeling in front of Hades and looks at him defiantly.

Seeing Steve and Catherine enter, the man smiles cynically, saying, "Well, commander, I guess then, our appointment at the Arlington National Cemetery is canceled, isn't it?"

Steve points his weapon, the green laser projects its light on the man's forehead, looks at him scornfully and says, "Drop your weapon, Hades. It's over…"

"This doesn't end until I say ..." The man laughs, as he presses the gun harder against Doris's forehead. "Drop your weapon, or your mother dies ..." The fire in the man's eyes makes Steve shudder for a moment. He's about to put his weapon down, when Doris's voice calmly says, "Don't do it Steve ... Kill him!"

"Nobody is so fast, Commander ... I assure you I can kill her before you kill me. Either way, I have nothing left to lose. "

Steve meditates for a moment. It's true, without his business, Hades is lost. He knows that the evidence will be given to the CIA, which will soon sink the rest of its operations in South Asia and Africa. From experience, he knows the worst enemy is the one who has nothing to lose.

Hades's and Steve's eyes meet, both distilling an irrepressible hatred for each other. Slowly, Steve lowers his weapon and places it on the ground, kicking it away from him, while Doris closes her eyes and says, "No!, Steven. We've tried to end this business for more than twenty years! "

"Good decision!" Hades says, smiling cynically. At that moment, Steve looks at Catherine eloquently. Everything happens very fast: Both throw themselves to the floor, Steve takes the gun from his ankle, points and shoots, injuring the man in the center of the chest, but in the last minute, before falling, the man's gun goes off and Doris falls on her back in the middle of a blood puddle.


	16. Don't say goodbye

**Chapter 15: Don't say goodbye.**

**_"There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart."_ **

_**Mahatma Gandhi** _

_To these memories I will hold_  
With your blessing I will go  
To turn at last to paths that lead home  
And though where the road then takes me  
I cannot tell  
We came all this way  
But now comes the day  
To bid you farewell

_Billy Boyd  
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies_

* * *

_At that moment, Steve looks at Catherine eloquently. Everything happens very fast: Both throw themselves to the floor, Steve takes the gun from his ankle, points and shoots, injuring the man in the center of the chest, but in the last minute, before falling, the man's gun goes off and Doris falls on her back in the middle of a blood puddle._

Without taking a second look at Hades, who lies on the floor with an empty gaze, Steve runs over to Doris, and leans down next to her. The wound in her chest bleeds profusely, her skin feels cold and sticky to the touch. She breathes with difficulty and her gaze is lost, as if she's trying to find something or someone far away from them.

He kneels next to her, pressing the wound with both hands and saying, "Stay with me, Mom, you're going to be fine ..." When she hears his voice, her eyes seem to focus at last, she fixes her eyes on her son's eyes, from which the tears escape inexorably and slide down her cheeks.

"Steven ... " she says in a tremulous voice, her eyes close slowly.

"No ... mom, stay with me, please! ... Cath, please call them" he begs, looking at Catherine with pleading eyes.

"Steven, look at me ..." while Catherine talks to the team over the intercom, Doris raises her left hand and places it gently on Steve's cheek. Upon feeling the contact, Steve turns to look at her. "I'm done!" She says.

"No, mom. We're just beginning, remember? You'll buy a house next to mine, we'll walk along the beach and we'll be together ... Mary needs you ... and Joannie."

"I need you to listen to me, Steve. I'm tired ... " she says, while her heavy eyelids begin to close. "I'm in peace ... tell Mary ... Tell her I'm sorry! … Can you do this for me?"

"Of course, mom, I will ... Don't talk, please. We're going to take you home and you'll be fine!" Steve's voice is filled with anguish.

"I need to tell you this!" She says, raising her voice slightly, "Listen to me Steve! I don't have much time... and I know we agreed there would be no more requests for forgiveness between us. I'm in peace, because I know that, at last you have forgiven me ... I need to know that you'll be fine, that you're going to do everything possible to be happy. Happiness is closer than you think, Steven. Don't waste more time because the fear to look for it ... It is inside you, it has been there for a long time! Listen to your heart, no matter what someone else has to say." Her breathing is getting weaker and weaker. "Promise me, Steven ..."

He closes his eyes, while he sits down and cradles Doris' head in his arms, after a couple of seconds, he whispers, "I promise, mom ..." She smiles lightly, and breathes deeply. Then, she looks at Catherine and says, as she approaches to listen, "Don't make the same mistakes as me ... Don't lose everything doing this job ... make sure you have a life, to find love. Because when you get to the end, that's the only thing that matters ... "

Catherine nods silently, holding Doris's trembling hand, firmly. At that moment, two SEALs from the team come close to them, bringint the first aid case and leaning over Doris, to try to stabilize her, but Steve refuses to let her go.

"Sir ... let me help her," one of them says, but Doris is looking at Steve again and says, "Let's not say goodbye ... Let's not say goodbye, because no matter where you go, I'll always be with you." He nods silently. At that moment, she smiles and a deep sigh rises from the bottom of her chest, while her eyes slowly close.

The room remains in an anguished silence, for a few minutes... an absolute and sad silence. Until Catherine places her hand on Steve's forearm and says, "We have to go, Steve..." but it seems that he can't hear her, he keeps looking at Doris who rests in his arms.

One of the SEALs approaches and says ... "Sir, Detective Williams is in bad shape ... He needs medical attention." Upon hearing Danny's name, Steve looks up, suddenly startled and asks, "He's going to be okay, Isn't he?"

"He is very weak," the SEAL answers, "We've placed an IV line to combat dehydration. The wounds in his chest are infected and he's feverish . We need to take him, now ... " He nods as he looks back at Doris, after a couple of seconds, he looks at the two SEALs again, who gently place Doris' body on a stretcher.

* * *

Time seems to stop at times, while Steve sits in the helicopter, facing Danny, who lies unconscious on a stretcher. He looks briefly at Catherine and says, pointing to Doris, "Take care of her, please Cath!" The helicopter quickly takes off, heading to the naval base in Suda.

Two hours later, Steve is sitting in the small waiting room of the infirmary at the base. His eyes are lost, the shoulders fall heavily, his elbows rest on his thighs. Junior comes close to him and sits in the chair beside Steve. Without saying anything, he places his right hand on his mentor's shoulder, who raises his head and looks at him silently.

At that moment, the doctor in charge, leaves the emergency area and approaches saying, "Commander, McGarrett ..."

Steve seems to wake up from a trance. He gets up quickly to listen. "I'm Lieutenant Collins. I've been taking care of Detective Williams. "

Seeing that Steve doesn't say a single word, Junior asks, "How is he?"

"He's dehydrated; apparently he was drugged with some kind of sedative and is still under its effect. He had a slight loss of blood, which doesn't put his life at risk. What worries me the most now is the fever, due to the infection of his wounds; so, after cleaning, we have started a treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. "

Steve speaks for the first time, with trembling voice asks, "He's going to be fine?"

"We must wait for the antibiotic to start doing its job. He's tired and he'll sleep for a few hours. Tomorrow morning we should have a clear forecast, but everything indicates that he'll recover completely. " Steve breathes deeply in relief.

His body feels numb and fatigue begins to take its toll. Junior says, "Maybe, you should rest a for a while, sir, I'll be here ..."

Steve vigorously shakes his head, while asking the doctor, "Can I see him? "

Lieutenant Collins nods, as he says pointing to the small cubicles in the emergency area, "He's in cubicle number two ... But I think you should both rest ..." Steve walks slowly, ignoring the doctor's recommendation. When he gets in front of the curtain, breathes deeply and slides it a bit, just enough to enter.

Danny is lying on the bed, breathing softly. His skin has been cleaned and his chest is tightly wrapped with a white bandage covering his wounds. Several bruises dot his arms, neck and face. The vital signs monitor emits a regular beep, while the luminous numbers shows his temperature, and the heart and respiratory rate.

While sitting in the uncomfortable chair next to the bed, Steve looks hypnotized at the rhythmic drip of the IV. The adrenaline has completely disappeared from its bloodstream and, for the first time, is aware of the accumulated fatigue. He places his arms crossed on the bed, and slowly lowers his head until he rests over them. In a few minutes, he falls deeply asleep.

* * *

Catherine, Junior and Tani are standing by the table, where Doris's body lies, covered with a white sheet. The silence is heavy, oppressive. Slowly, Catherine approaches and pulls up the sheet, uncovering her face. She seems to be asleep, even a smile ... her last smile, remains drawn on her lips.

Tani says, almost in a whisper, "It's so unfair!" Junior places his hand around her shoulders, while she continues, "Steve has lost so much! And just when he thought he had recovered his mother, this happens ... It's too much for anyone! "

Catherine says, "Fortunately, they had time to sort things out between them. She left in peace and Steve will be fine, he should be ... "

Junior nods silently.

* * *

A persistent cough wakes him up. Steve slowly raises his head, his neck stiff, immediately resents the posture he was in for several hours. Ignoring the pain, he gets up quickly, saying, "Danno?"

The detective opens his eyes, looking at Steve, confused for a moment. Then, he sketches a smile and says hoarsely, "You came!... I knew you would!"

Steve brings the cup of water closer, so his friend can drink a little and says, "Of course, I would never have left you there, Danno."

At that moment, Lieutenant Collins gets into the cubicle, while verifying the vital signs, he asks "Detective Williams, how do you feel?"

Danny sighs and says, "It hurts... everything hurts!"

The doctor checks the temperature and says, "It seems that the antibiotic has worked well. You no longer have a fever. " Steve sighs in relief and drops himself back into the chair, while Danny asks," When can I go home? I need to see my children. "

"I would like to keep you tonight, tomorrow you'll be able to go back to the United States", Collins answers. Then, he writes some indications in the file and leaves the cubicle. Danny looks at Steve, intrigued by the attitude of his friend, he decides to reassure him saying, "I'm fine, Steve. Thanks to you, one more time!. I knew you would come. What happened? Who was that guy, Hades? "

Steve shakes his head and asks, "What did he tell you?"

"Not much, he said that your mother had something he wanted and I was the instrument, the guarantee for you to get that for him. I guess he was talking about the evidence that Doris promised to the CIA, wasn't he?"

Steve spends the next ten minutes, explaining to Danny everything that happened, since he last saw him, outside the Palace, until he found him in that stinky cell.

"Wow!..." Danny says, incredulous, "it was quite a journey, right?"

Steve nods silently. Danny asks, "And the evidence?"

"Wade Hutches handed it to Director Bennett two hours ago. At this moment they should be arresting all the double agents involved. "

"That's good news, isn't it?" Danny asks. Seeing Steve nodding again, he asks, "So, why do I feel that something bad is happening, Steve?"

At that moment, Tani sticks his head out the curtain and greets with a smile. Steve gets up and gets out of the cubicle, leaving Danny talking to Tani.

In the corridor, he meets Catherine, who tells him, he must meet the commander of the base to manage what is necessary for his return to the United States, to take Doris home.


	17. A promise to keep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who has read and commented on this story. We are almost reaching the end. Only two chapters left.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

**Chapter 16: A promise to keep**

**_"Death leaves a pain that nobody can heal, love leaves a memory that no one can steal."_ **

**_Anonymous._ **

* * *

Instinct tells Danny that something is happening, something Steve didn't want to tell him. After the girl's futile attempts to keep the conversation casual, he finally decides to find out what's going on, "Tani ... what happened?" He asks.

"What do you mean?" Tani asks, trying to evade the question.

"Oh, come on! Don't mess with me. I've known Steve for eight years and I can tell you, things didn't go as they should. He's quiet, distracted and I don't understand why. You guys, have found the evidence, he killed Hades and the double agents of the CIA have been arrested. That's more than we expected, but there is something that bothers him, Tani ... please, what is that? "

"I don't know if I should ... You're weak, tired and you need to recover. The last thing you want is one more reason to worry." She answers, trying to persuade him to wait until Steve decides to tell him. She doesn't want to be the one to give him the bad news.

"He's my friend, Tani. What happens to him, happens to me. Please, I need to know ... "

She sighs. She knows he's right, Steve needs someone to lean on and everyone knows that the only one who can help him is Danny. Finally, she gives up, "Everything happened so fast, Danny! Steve ... he was focused and things started well, but then ... everything became a mess, they caught Doris ". Danny closes his eyes, afraid to hear the rest. "Is she okay?" He asks uneasily.

Tani shakes her head sadly, "She died, Danny. Kanakaredes killed her! "

"Oh God! ... And Steve killed him, didn't he?"

She nods and says, "Yes ..." after a brief pause, she says, "I'm worried, Danny."

"Why?" He asks, "Steve told you something?"

"The problem is he doesn't say anything. During the flight back to the base, he was absent all the time, with a lost look ... Then, when we arrived, Doris was taken to the morgue and he came to the infirmary, following the guy who pushed the stretcher where you lay unconscious. He sat there, in the waiting room, not talking to anyone, until the doctor came out and told him you would be fine. He's been here all the time since then, he has not eaten anything and I guess he barely slept. I think I've never seen him so lost! "

Danny closes his eyes again, resting his head on the pillow. He feels a deep sadness and guilt doesn't let him breathe. Steve risked everything to come and rescue him and because of that, he has lost his mother ... again. "Where is he?" He asks in a barely audible voice.

Tani shrugs and says, "Catherine told me he should meet the commander of the base to arrange the details to take the body to Hawaii. I guess he must be on that ... "

Without opening his eyes, Danny mutters, "Do me a favor, Tani. Can you ask Catherine to come? "

"Of course." She answers and gets up to leave the cubicle. "I'll be back in a moment."

* * *

Catherine opens the curtain and gets into the cubicle. Danny is lying with his eyes closed, but his anguished breathing tells her he is awake. She walks to the chair and sits down, saying in a soft voice, "Danny?"

He opens his eyes, they are wet and red. He looks at her and asks concerned, "How is he, Catherine?"

She tilts her head and asks, "Tani told you?" Danny nods silently.

"He's as good as you could expect, I guess. He's sad, Danny. I could say I've never seen him so sad ... You know, when his father and Freddie died, Steve focused on get Hesse and then Wo Fat. That gave him a reason to overcome. He kept his mind focused on that, but now ... it's different ... "

"Yes ..." Danny says, "It's like he doesn't know how to start to mourn her ... Have you talked to him? That could help him. "

"I don't think he's going to talk to me about that ... Oh, come on Danny! you know him. Showing his feelings is not his main strength. "

"But with you ..." Danny frowns, "I thought you two could ..."

She looks at him defiantly, "What Danny? Resume our relationship at the point where we left it, three years ago? " For a brief moment, Catherine's voice dripped sarcasm, but then her gaze turns sad, "No, Danny. I'm afraid that's over! Before the mission, Steve and I talked and decided we will be just friends. "

"That doesn't seem to make you happy," he says, taking one of her hands in his.

"I'm not going to deny that I'm going to miss him, Danny. What we had was very good, I was really happy, but we both need to move on, to look for the person that will really make us happy, because we are no longer that for each other. "

"I'm sorry ..." Danny says, without letting go of her hand.

"Don't be sorry. He'll be fine… I think he knows now what he needs to be happy, and I think he's going to do whatever it takes to have it."

"Where is he now?" He asks, anxious.

"I guess he's organizing everything to return to Oahu. It's a long journey, Danny and he needs to take Doris home. "

At that moment, Lieutenant Collins gets into the cubicle. While reviewing the notes in the file, he says, "Well, detective. I think we have solved the problem of dehydration, there is no fever and, according to the last blood test, there are no traces of the sedative that man injected into your bloodstream. The wounds in your chest and abdomen will heal quickly..." The man smiles and finish saying, "I think you can go home. "

* * *

Steve is standing at the end of the runway, looking enthralled at the landing maneuvers of two Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, returning from a training mission. Feels the evening breeze caressing his face and, for a moment, shudders slightly, as he looks at the pilots getting off the fighter aircrafts and walking towards the main building of the base.

He has the feeling of being observed. Behind him, someone approaches, walking slowly. He doesn't need to look, he knows who's coming. Without looking away from the last movements of the land staff of the base, he calmly says, "Hi Danno! So Lieutenant Collins did release you, didn't he? "

Danny stops next to him, placing his left hand on Steve's shoulder, looking the same guys working, just as his friend. They stay a few minutes like this, in a comfortable silence, until Steve asks, "How do you feel?"

"Pretty good ... I think ... Why didn't you tell me, Steve?" Danny asks, without looking away from the men who work in the aircrafts some yards away from them.

"You needed to get well... I guess I was planning to tell you once the doctor release you, but I can see someone already told you."

"This is my fault! ..." Danny whispers, tilting his head. Steve frowns and turns to look at his friend, "You want to tell me why this could be your fault?" Danny turns his head and his eyes meet Steve's.

"You had the evidence, Steve ... All you had to do was give it to the Director of the CIA and Doris could retire. You had the opportunity to rebuild your relationship with her, to get your family back, but, instead, you came for me and now your mother is dead ... " he looks back at the ground, trying to avoid his friend seeing the humidity in his eyes.

Steve turns around to stand in front of Danny and says, "Danno, look at me ..." The detective raises his head. "In any case, This is my fault ... I got you involved in an impossible situation. Doris' job was always dangerous and hurt more people than I want to remember ...my dad, Mary, our family, friends; many people were injured or killed because of her job. Even you, Danno!... your life was at risk several times ... because of her!"  Memories crowd Steve's head: North Korea, Cambodia, Wo Fat; Danny hurt, in the rubble of a building collapsed by a bomb...

Steve goes on to say, "But this time it was worse ..." now it's his turn to look down and whisper, "I got scared... I thought that bastard would kill you! ... I could not allow that, Danny. Do you want me to confess something? " Danny nods, not knowing what to expect, Steve tells him, "If everything else had failed, I was willing to give Kanakaredes all the evidence ..."

"You can't be serious," Danny says, incredulous, "There were many lives at risk, Steve."

"If that meant saving your life, I would have done it without hesitation ... At that moment, it was the only thing that mattered to me ..." Danny doesn't know what to answer, he feels overwhelmed and grateful, so he simply says, "Thank you ..."

They remain silent for one minute or two. Then, Steve looks at the stars that have begun to appear in the dark moonless sky, suddenly he says, "She made me promise something ..."

"What was that?"

"She asked me to do everything I can to be happy ..." Steve smiles ironically, "Damn it, Danny! I don't even know what that means! ..." Then, his expression becomes infinitely sad as he says, "She was right ... she said that I had wasted a lot of time because of fear. "

Danny frowns and says, "I don't understand ... Fear of what?"

"I guess she meant I've never let anyone get close enough to hurt me, Danny ... but that means I have not given anyone the opportunity ... to be everything to me ... Not even Catherine ... I think that's what Doris meant ... "

A strange sensation envelops Danny. A mixture of sadness and understanding. Both begin to walk towards the main building, while Danny says, "When I was in that cell ... There was a moment when I thought I wasn't going to make it: I started to remember all the things we've been through in recent years and the panic beat me, but then I saw Grace ... "

Steve smiles and asks, "For real?"

"For real... she asked me to hang in there. That you would arrive soon ... and then I heard your voice ... You told me you'll always be there for me ".

"Well, that's true, Danno. I'm right here! "

Danny nods and says, "I know ... at that moment, the fear disappeared and I promised to myself that, if I came out there, alive, I wouldn't allow fear to block me, preventing me from being happy." After a couple seconds, he frowns and asks "Is this just a coincidence?"

They've reached the entrance to the main building, Steve opens the door, moving to one side to let Danny get in first, while saying, "I don't know, Danno. It's been a long time since I stopped believing in coincidences ... What I'm sure of is we both have a promise to keep. "

* * *

Steve opens his eyes and looks at his watch, He has slept for almost forty minutes. Frowns and sighs, he knows he needs to rest. After the last few days he feels exhausted, but the conversation with Danny goes around in his head, again and again. He looks around the plane full of Navy officers and Air Force pilots coming back home. Junior and Tani are deeply asleep, leaning on each other, a couple of seats behind him. A couple of seats back, Catherine is engaged in a cheerful conversation with a nice and handsome lieutenant. Next to him, Danny sleeps restless, leaning his head on the bundle he has made with his jacket and which he has placed carelessly against the window.

Slowly he gets up, walking towards the pilot's cabin. The journey has seemed interminable: First, a long eleven hour flight from the Naval Base of Suda to Washington D.C., where they have been for almost two hours. While they was waiting for the plane to be ready, he has spoken with Mary and he has heard her mourn inconsolably over the death of her mother. Now, they are heading to Honolulu and Steve calculates it's approximately two hours before landing.


	18. Reborn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter. I just want to say I'm very excited about the readers response to this story. I deeply thank all those readers who marked and followed this, and my sincere gratitude to those who took a few minutes to make a comment.
> 
> I have some new ideas for new stories, so I'll see you soon!

 

 

 

**Chapter 17: Reborn**

**_"Perhaps the earth can teach us, as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive."  
_ _Pablo Neruda_ **

**_"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn."  
Mahatma Gandhi_ **

* * *

 

The plane lands shortly after 8:00 pm on the runway at the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Base. Steve feels his breathing quicken during the agonizing minutes of waiting, while two officers in camouflage uniform, lower the coffin with Doris's body from the plane. Those minutes would have been interminable, if not for Danny, who is standing next to him, with his left hand firmly placed on his shoulder.

Once the officers have taken the body, Danny asks, "Do you have any idea how do you want the funeral to be?"

"I don't know ... I guess I have to talk to Mary first ..." He shakes his head repeatedly as he says, "This is so weird!"

Danny, who until that moment has watched the descent maneuvers, turns his head to look at Steve who has a strange expression on his face. "Weird?"

Steve nods and says sadly, "Do you realize this will be my mother's second funeral? This is crazy, Danny! How many people do you know who have buried their mother twice?" Steve has not stopped thinking about it during the last hours of the flight. Both situations are so similar, but at the same time, so different.

The first time, he was only sixteen. He was a kid who had lost his mother suddenly and even he didn't know why she were gone. He clearly remembers that he felt lonely and unprotected, at a funeral crowed with people he didn't know; men and women who approached his father and gave him their condolences. People who meant nothing to him, who stood there without crying, looking fixedly at the coffin and holding stoically Mary's hand.

Now, almost twenty-six years later, even though he's a grown adult man, hardened by military life and his eight years wearing a badge; now he knows the circumstances that took away his mother and he has faced the most terrible situations ... The sense of loss, while looking at his mother's coffin, is just as overwhelming as the last time.

Danny squeezes his friend's shoulder, trying to give him some of the comfort he needs. Suddenly, an idea comes to his mind and asks, "Have you talked to Joe?"

Steve frowns, surprised that the idea has not crossed his mind; Silently, he shakes his head. Danny asks, "Do you want me to call him?"

Steve looks into Danny's eyes. Sometimes he can't help but be surprised at how Danny understands exactly what he needs. He nods and remains silent, while both walk towards the main building.

As soon as they enter, a familiar shout reaches their ears, "Danno!" And a weeping Grace throws herself into her father's arms. Danny hugs his daughter tenderly, while Steve looks at them. Realizing that maybe they want to be alone, he walks away to give them some privacy, but Gracie says, "Uncle Steve, wait a minute!" She comes close to Steve, hugging him and whispering in his ear. "I knew you'd bring him back! ... Thank you for keeping your promise!" After a few seconds, Steve steps away a bit, kisses Grace on the forehead and says, "You're welcome, Gracie!" Then looks at Danny and says, "I have to go. I need to see Mary ... I'll see you later, " and turns around to leave the building.

A cab leaves him on the driveway to his house, thirty minutes later. He slowly walks to the door, taking the keys out of his pants pocket, but before he can put it in the lock, the door opens and Mary, red-eyed and swollen from crying, comes out and throws herself into his arms.

Both remain embraced for a few minutes, while the sobs escape irrepressible from Mary's throat and Steve gently strokes her hair to comfort her. When she begins to calm down, Steve puts his arm around her shoulders and both enter the house. He drops himself on the couch, while Mary walks towards the kitchen. Suddenly, Steve asks, "Where is Joannie?"

Mary is taking out a can and filling the coffee pot with water. As she pulls out the cups she says, "She's with Kamekona ... After we talked, I needed to be alone for a while, I didn't want her to see me cry." Mary comes out of the kitchen and sits down in the coffee table in front of Steve, asking "What happened, Steve? "

He shrugs and answers, "I suppose it should happen sooner or later, Mare ... Doris' life was always like this, living in the edge ... the risks she took brought her many enemies ... This guy, Kanakaredes was one of them. She had been trying to arrest him up for twenty years ... "

"Did you catch that bastard?"

Steve nods in anger and says, "I put a bullet in his heart!" Mary tilts her head and asks, "And Mom... did she say something to you?"

Steve brings his hand to Mary's chin forcing her to raise her face to look into her eyes, "She asked me to tell you She was sorry, for everything! ..." tears fall down his sister's face, again. A few seconds later, she sighs deeply and says, "At least she had the chance to make amends with us ... with herself, maybe that gave her some peace."

"Listen Mare ... We have to decide what we're going to do now. What kind of funeral do we want for her? "

Mary shakes her head and says, "I don't know, I'm not sure if I want a funeral, Steve ... It was hard enough the first time. I think I'd like something private. Only our  _Ohana_  ... " He nods and answers, "I agree!".

Mary gets up to serve the coffee and Steve stays there, sitting with his elbows resting on his thighs and the palms of his hands firmly pressing his closed eyes. She comes back a few minutes later, with the two cups of coffee in a tray, which she places on the coffee table. She puts a hand on his brother's shoulder, who quickly raises his head. They both drink the coffee in silence. After a couple of minutes, Mary says, "Maybe you should get some sleep ... It's been some tough days, you should be exhausted."

* * *

"Danno, what happened to Uncle Steve?" Grace is sitting in the passenger seat in the Camaro, while Danny drives to Rachel's house. His eyebrows rise in questioning expression, "Why are you asking, Monkey?"

She looks confused, "I'm not sure ... he looked sad ... But he should be happy, he caught the bad guys and saved you... Danno, he brought you back home."

"Grace, Listen to me. Things didn't go well ... Do you remember Doris, Steve's mother? "

"Of course…"

"She died there, Grace ... The bad guy killed her," Danny says in a muffled voice. "That's why Uncle Steve is sad."

Grace closes her eyes and begins to cry softly, "Poor Uncle Steve, Danno! We must be with him ... He shouldn't be alone now. "

"I know, Monkey ... we'll do it." Danny nods, feeling overwhelmed by the understanding and love his little daughter has always felt for his best friend.

* * *

After the helicopter ride, Steve, Mary, Danny and Grace descend on the uneven terrain of the Island of Kauai. Charlie and Joan have stayed with Rachel, due to the difficulty of the route. The environment is humid and hot. Carrying his backpack, Steve begins to walk down the path, Danny speeds up the pace to walk beside him.

"Of all the places on earth, Steven ... Would you mind to explain, why here? ... It's wet, uncomfortable; the terrain is uneven and there's a huge amount of insects." Steve smiles when he hears Danny's expected tirade.

"Mary and I agreed that this is the right place, Danno. My mother used to bring us hiking when we were kids. The four of us used to come and camping for a couple of days. She showed us all the different species of plants, the waterfalls ... I loved to look down to the canyon and try to see the river in the bottom! "

"Did you have a good time, Uncle Steve?" Grace asks, smiling as she tries to imagine Steve and Mary as children, excited by a hiking and camping trip with their parents.

"It was great, Gracie! Our family together for two days! No phone calls at midnight, asking dad to go to a crime scene. "

She looks, enraptured the incredible landscape and says, "I've never come here before ..."

"They call this place  _'The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.'_   Have you ever heard of the Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River in Arizona? Although this is not as big as the Grand Canyon, it's magnificent. The Waimea River has carved it patiently for hundreds of years. Waimea means  _'red water'_ , this is because the land here is red and the river water has that same color." Then, Steve looks at Danny, whose shirt has stuck to his skin and says," It's also one of the wettest places on earth. "

"I can see that, Steven!" Danny answers, his astonished gaze tracing the overflowing nature of this place, the waterfalls, the dense vegetation in contrast to an intense blue sky and the clouds that seem to touch with his hands. Danny takes a deep breath and says, "I must admit that!, this is a beautiful place ..." Steve and Mary smile.

They walk for about an hour, until they reach the place they're looking for. It is a viewpoint located 900 meters above the river, surrounded by a hand rail, four feet high. From this place, they can admire the vast beauty of the canyon. On the other side, a waterfall slides, mischievous between the rocks and plants until it lose of sight, in the bottom.

Steve and Mary are surprised when they get there. All their  _Ohana_  is there... Lou is here, with Reneé, Samantha and Will; Jerry, wearing an extravagant hat, tilts his head when he sees them; Tani and Junior carry a basket full of food; Noelani smiles, while closing the buttons of her raincoat, trying to protect herself from the humidity; Nahele approaches silently, stopping in front of Steve; it's no secret to anyone this man is like his father, who loves him as if he were; Without saying anything, Steve hugs the kid and, touched by a deep feeling, whispers, "Thank you for being here, Nahele ..."

Kamekona and Flippa are sitting on the ground, trying to catch their breath after the difficult walk. Junior takes out a huge bottle of water and hands it to the cousins, smiling. Clara walks slowly towards Steve, hugging him and whispering in his ear, "You're like my son, Steve ... Doris... I liked her, I didn't know her well but I know she loved you deeply ... you and Mary." Returning the hug, Steve smiles sadly.

At that moment, Catherine and Joe arrive walking down the path. The commander approaches Mary and kiss her cheek affectionately, then looks at Steve and walks towards him. The two men hug each other, while Steve says, "Thanks for coming, Joe."

"You don't have to thank me, son." Joe says, eyes wet with emotion. Finally, Steve turns to look at Catherine, walks towards her and bends over to kiss her on the cheek, while whispering in her ear, "Thanks Cath ... for everything".

Everyone gathers in front of the railing, while Steve takes out from the backpack, the urn with Doris' ashes. The atmosphere suddenly becomes solemn, the silence is interrupted occasionally by Mary's soft sobs, while she rests her head on her brother's shoulder.

Steve looks at Mary, hoping she wants to say something, but she frowns and shakes her head, not saying a word. He removes the lid from the urn and turns it down; A sudden current of air begins to scatter the ashes that slowly disappear in small volutes, towards the other end of the canyon.

* * *

Everyone has sat on the ground and the conversations come up here and there, while Tani hands out some sandwiches and some bottles of water and beer. Steve gets up and walks away from the group, leaning on the hand rail, with his eyes lost in the magical image of the canyon under the changing colors of sunset. Seeing his partner submerged in that moment of introspection, Danny gets up, takes two bottles of beer and walks to the railing, stopping next to Steve.

Silently, he gives Steve the bottle and they both take a long sip. "What's wrong?" Danny asks.

"It's nothing ..." Steve answers. His voice, almost a whisper, attenuated by the sound of birds and the wind. "It's just ... All my life I was alone, Danny. I learned to be alone since I was sixteen ... and now, you're all here ... It's overwhelming. "

Danny smiles and asks, "Remember that time you helped me with the governor, when Rachel wanted to change the custody agreement?"

"Yes ... I remember."

"Remember what you answered when I told you that, without Grace, I was alone on this damn island? ... You told me maybe I was not as alone as I thought ... This is a two way road, Steve. You're not as alone as you think, all you need is to see we are here ... I am here! "

Impulsively, Steve hugs Danny tightly and says simply, "I know you are, Danno!" He breathes deeply, his gaze returns to the beautiful landscape, "I've never had a friend like you! ... I learned to live alone and not to depend of nobody ... until I met you and everything had a new meaning. You're my family, you and your kids... Thank you for that, Danno! " A reassuring sense of understanding rests in his soul, as he thinks he has a promise to keep and he's determined to do so.

 

THE END


End file.
